How Does it All Go Wrong?
by Girl-of-Geekery
Summary: Mystery, tension, pain, confusion, worry, attempted murder.All in all, not exactly a normal day.Especially for three of our favorite NCIS guys.Its a good thing they have each other to hang on to, otherwise they might not be able to make it through.
1. Prologue

**PLEASE READ: Just so you know, updates will be slow. I don't have allot of time on my hands but I wanted to get this posted. And also, I'm dedicating this story to mt friend, Hermione's Shadow. She helped me quite a bit with this and she deserves some thanks! :)**

**And lastly, I do not own NCIS or the characters, they all belong to CBS. *Sigh* Okay, got the the depressing disclaimer over with, now on with the story! :D**

"Tony!" He yelled, banging his fist against the door a second time. "Come'on DiNozzo, open up!" He waited for a response, but receiving none, he had to roll his eyes. He was sore, tired, and hungry and wanted nothing more than to go home and try to erase the remains of the three day, two night case from his mind. But instead here he was, standing outside of Tony's apartment, banging on the door, trying to make himself heard to the senior field agent as he tried to return the man's cellphone.

He was half-tempted to just leave the phone outside on the doorstep and call it quits, but he knew the older man's home phone was down for the next few days due to electrical problems with the apartment building and he also knew that if Gibbs wasn't able to contact him should they have a call out for a case, he would not be happy. With a sigh, he tried again. "Tony, I know you're there, I saw your car out in the parking lot!" he yelled through the door, shifting from one foot to the other out of exhaustion and frustration.

After yet another few minutes of silence, he lost his patience. He'd just go in and leave it on the table where Tony would be sure to see it. Trying the knob first, he was unsurprised to find it locked. So, he instead reached into his back pocket and pulled out his lock picking kit. Something he had learned to carry with him at all times since his second year of NCIS.

He smiled in triumph when he was able to pick the lock in under a minute. '_A personal best,' _he thought with a smirk.

Letting himself into the familiar apartment, he took note that the lights in the living room and the small kitchenette were still on. He frowned at that. Tony always shut the lights off before he went to bed, so he was obviously still up. Why hadn't he answered the door then? He had a disturbing feeling in the pit of his stomach and he knew something was wrong. If there was one thing he had learned from Gibbs is was that you should always trust your gut feelings.

"Tony?" he asked tentatively, almost afraid of what he would find. "Tony, you okay?" he asked again. Rounding the corner, he glanced at the big forty-seven inch TV screen hanging on the wall. He gut churned again as he noticed it wasn't playing some movie or another as usual. Entering the room quietly, hand resting on his sig, he scanned the room with careful eyes.

As he neared the couch, he finally spotted his partner. He was half laying across the couch, head resting on his arm, one hand hanging over the edge of the couch. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be asleep. But Timothy McGee knew better. He went around to the other side of the couch and knelt next to his friend.

"Tony?" he asked, touching the man's shoulder gently and giving him a small shake. "Tony, I need you to wake up." he said, shaking his friend harder. Receiving no response, he had to swallow past the lump in his throat as he reached out to press his fingers to the man's neck in search of a pulse. The relief was brief as he managed to find the beating beneath his fingers before he realized it was beating way too fast.

"Oh, man." He started searching his pockets with slightly shaking hands for his cellphone. Finally finding it, he flipped it open and hastily dialed nine-one-one.

"Nine-one-one. What's the emergency?" A calm female voice asked from the other end.

"I need an ambulance to 1412, Klive lane, apartment number 142. My partners down. I'm not sure what's wrong with him though." He said as calmly as he could.

"An ambulance will be dispatched immediately. Could you describe his symptoms to me?" she asked.

"Rapid pulse, he won't wake up. He may---" he halted in his description as his eyes zeroed in on something in Tony's hand.

"Sir? Sir, are you there?" the woman asked, but he ignored her.

Grabbing one of the tissues from the box on the coffee table so he wouldn't contaminate whatever it was with his prints, he carefully took the object from his partner's hand. Turning the item, which turned out to be a pill bottle, over in his hand he looked at the label. Oxycontin. Pain pills. He shook the bottle. It was empty.

He looked up and stared at his partner in shock.

"Sir? Are you alright?" the woman continued to ask, still trying to get his attention.

"Yeah." he finally answered, never taking his eyes from his partner, "Tell the dispatch he overdosed." he informed her. Then he snapped the phone shut before she had a chance to answer and dropped it back into his pocket.

The next four minutes before the paramedics hurried through the door, he tried to contemplate just why his partner would try to kill himself.

**Okay everyone, tell me what you thought please! I put allot of work into this story and still am and would love to know what you think of it. :)**


	2. Chapter 1

**Okay, here's the next chapter!! Yay! :D lol!**

**First, a big thanks again to Hermione's Shadow for helping me again and for editing this chapter for me. I really appreciate it. :)**

**Also, there is a slight spoiler for Truth or Consequences, and even smaller one for Hiatus.**

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And of course, I don't own NCIS, it belongs to CBS, please don't sue me, yada yada yada......

He stared as he tapped the side of the styrofoam cup, causing the black liquid inside to ripple, mesmerized by it's movements.

_'__Why?'_ It was all he could think, over and over. '_Why would Tony do that?'_

He had thought back through the past few days to make sure he hadn't overlooked any unusual behavior from the agent. But, try as he could, he couldn't remember a thing. Tony had been his usual annoyingly cheerful self.

Of course that past day or so he had been a little more subdued and run down, but they all had. After working three days straight none of them had the energy to tease one another anymore.

_'Maybe we made a mistake.' _He couldn't help but think. '_Maybe we should have payed more attention. Maybe there was more to it than a case of being tired and run down. Maybe it traveled deeper than that.' _After an hour in the hospital waiting room, left with nothing more than his thoughts, McGee was sick and tired of all the 'maybes'.

"Agent McGee?" a voice asked and his head snapped up in response.

"Yes?" he asked, straightening his chair.

"You're the one who one rode in with Agent DiNozzo, correct?" The tag on his white coat introduced him as Dr. Wagner.

"Yeah, I am." he confirmed, "Is he okay? What exactly happened?"

The doctor paused briefly and McGee felt as if he might be sick any moment. Whenever the doctor paused before answering, it never meant anything good.

"He's not okay, is he?" he asked, his heart dropping to land in his stomach.

"Oh no, he's fine." Dr. Wagner assured quickly, "I'm sorry if I gave you the impression that your friend was in danger. But technically I'm not allowed to give out any exact details to someone who is not next of kin."

"Well, who's his next of kin?" he asked quickly, desperate to get information on his friend.

Flipping back a few pages on his clip board, the man replied, "Leroy Jethro Gibbs."

"Gibbs?" He asked.

He quietly chastised himself when he realized he hadn't called any one else yet to let them know of Tony's situation. He was in trouble.

"You know him then?" asked.

"Yeah...yeah, I know him." He responded.

"Would you like to call him? It can be easier hearing this kind of news from a friend instead of a stranger." Dr. Wagner asked.

"Uh, yeah, I'll call him." As soon as he said it, he regretted it. Gibbs was going to go ballistic. _'Guess it's better he takes it out on me than some poor, unsuspecting nurse,' _he mused as he searched his pockets for his phone a second time.

He cursed as he snapped the phone open to realize that the battery had died.

With a heavy sigh, he started searching his pockets instead for some change to use the payphone. He really didn't want to hear the response he was surely going to get from Gibbs, calling him in the middle of night, after a three day case, to tell him that his senior field agent, that Tony, had tried to kill himself by overdosing on a pain meds. It certainly wasn't exactly what he had been planning to do tonight.

He chewed on his lip and tapped his foot as he listened to the ringing of the phone, all the while praying Gibbs wouldn't shoot the messenger. He would like to live to see his fortieth birthday.

"Gibbs." came the gruff answer after only two rings, though it was still obvious the older man had been asleep.

"Boss, it's McGee."

"McGee?" Gibbs asked, confused, "What the heck are you doing calling in the middle of the night? It had better be good!" he growled tiredly.

McGee bit his lip again briefly before saying the five words he knew would get Gibbs to listen to him without question: "Boss, it's Tony, he's hurt."

And sure enough, when Gibbs responded, his voice was no longer filled with exhaustion. "What happened?" he demanded gruffly but McGee knew he was no longer angry. Just worried. Though Gibbs would never admit that.

Taking a deep breath he outlined the situation for his boss, starting from the point he had been on Tony's door stoop to the time the doctor had came out of the ER room. He didn't add in his thoughts of Tony attempting to commit suicide because he knew there was no need. While it was very unexpected from Tony there was no mistaking the evidence that was against the man.

After he finished his story all he heard on the other end was silence and for a brief moment he wondered if Gibbs had hung up on him again but realized that wasn't the case when he heard Gibbs bark "Be right there" before he slammed the phone down.

Sighing and closing his eyes for a few seconds he put the phone back on it's cradle, returning to his seat and his now cold cup of coffee.

He just couldn't understand it. Why would Tony try to kill himself? He'd admit, the man's life was no walk through park, but then who's was? He knew from a few stories Tony had happened to share on occasion that the man's childhood hadn't exactly been the happiest. And the past few years had been particularly rough for man he knew. But Tony always seemed like he had a good handle on things.

Sure, he had rough days like everyone else, but nothing that would cause him to take it this far he hadn't thought. Besides, Tony was always strong, he always seemed to take everything life threw at him in stride and he dealt with it. It was one of the things he admired about the older man.

Even when everyone and everything was falling in around him, Tony always managed to be the rock for them all. He was the one who managed to take the edge out of the day with his teasing and humor. He had been the one to hold the team together when Gibbs had left. He had been the one to start the vengeance mission against Ziva's supposed killer and lead them to Somalia.

Yet, there must have been signs, right? There always was. McGee had seen enough suicides in his time as an agent to know the victim always showed at least a few signs, no matter how hard they tried to hide them, they were always visible. So why hadn't they seen them with Tony?

_'Maybe we weren't paying close enough attention,' _he thought bitterly, '_Maybe none of us knew him as well as we thought we did. Maybe there were signs and we just didn't notice and because of that we were almost too late.'_

He huffed, burying his face in his hands, angry with himself. He had thought he and Tony had been partners. brothers even, maybe. Why hadn't he picked up the signs? _'More importantly' _he thought, '_why didn't he talk to me?' _

He knew Tony wasn't one to share personal matters. How his date went last night or what movie he had watched over the weekend, sure. But never anything deeper than that. Even his childhood stories were kept to a bare minimum.

_'I thought he knew he could talk to me, though. _He mused, _He's my friend, why didn't he tell me something was wrong? And if he couldn't talk to me, why not someone else? Why not Gibbs? Okay, so maybe Gibbs isn't the most obvious choice to talk to. But if Tony needed to talk to someone, Gibbs would have listened without any qualms. Would have helped him with anything. He could have went to Abby, Ducky, Ziva, Palmer. Why didn't he go to someone?!' _By now his anger at himself for not noticing the signs sooner, had quickly morphed into anger at Tony for not going to someone for help. _'You can't notice signs that aren't there!' _he thought angrily.

'_Tony should have known better! Should have known to try and talk to someone first. Should have realized what it would do to the team if he were to off himself!' _He knew his thoughts were slightly irrational, but darn it, he didn't care.

He was just so ticked at Tony. Ticked that he didn't stop to think about how his death would affect everyone. And especially ticked that he hadn't trusted any of them enough to come to them and tell them that he was having problems.

They were all partners, they were all friends. Didn't Tony know by now that he could trust them with something more than just watching his six on the job? Didn't he realize they would watch his six no matter what he was facing?

So caught up in his anger, he didn't even notice the silver-haired figure approaching him, which caused him to jump when said man placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You okay, McGee?" Gibbs asked, surveying him with careful, concerned eyes.

"Yeah Boss, I'm fine, just thinking." he assured, a tinge of red creeping up to his cheeks as he realized he let himself lose his guard and allowed someone, even though that someone was Gibbs, a former Marine sniper, sneak up on him.

Gibbs nodded before turning to his next concern, "Where's DiNozzo?"

"I don't know, boss. They won't tell me. Said they need to inform next kin of first. All they would tell me is 'he's fine'." he said, giving his boss a quick succinct update, like he knew his boss would want. "Pretty much all any of them would tell me." McGee muttered bitterly to himself, not realizing his boss was still listening so he didn't notice the understanding smirk slip across the older man's face.

Gibbs simply patted his shoulder before walking over over to the nurses station to demand information on Tony's condition.

Fifteen minutes of medical garble, placating words and one frightened nurse later, Gibbs finally convinced them to get Dr. Wagner out to the waiting room immediately so he could speak to the man.

From his chair about thirty feet away, McGee had to smirk slightly as the doctor came rushing out from the emergency doors to meet with Gibbs. His smirk, however, disappeared and his stomach clenched as he noticed the look on his bosses face as Dr. Wagner explained Tony's condition to the older man. Whatever he was saying about Tony, it wasn't good.

He really wished he knew what they were saying. He needed to know what was going on with his partner. So he was relieved, and yet still slightly nervous, when Gibbs gestured him forward and started leading him down one the white halls filled with closed doors that led to rooms full of patients.

"Boss, what did---"

"He said they were able to pump DiNozzo's stomach before things got too out of hand. They have him on an IV right now to flush his system. It was a close one, you hadn't found him when you did, McGee, he would have been dead."

Again McGee had to swallow past the awful lump in his throat.

"In-fact," Gibbs continued without pause, "Dr. Wagner said he only had a few minutes left before too much of the drug would have reached his system and he would have been a goner." This time Gibbs did pause for a few seconds before adding in a much softer voice than his usual gruff tone that he had been using "You did really good, Tim."

He just nodded his thanks. It sure didn't feel like he had done good. He felt like he could have, should have, done allot more.

"He said that DiNozzo is out cold for right now," Gibbs added as if he had never paused, "Probably will be for a day or two. Affect of the overdose. The idiots' lucky he didn't go into a coma." he growled.

McGee winced, he had known Gibbs would have figured it out. Would have realized what Tony had attempted.

"Boss," he started, mouth dry. He really didn't want to ask this, but he needed answers and he didn't know where else to start. "Why do you think---I mean, why do you think Tony---?"

"I don't know, McGee." Gibbs answered in a softer, contemplative tone, "Doctor said they put his wrists in restraints for now, just in case. Didn't want him trying it again." By now Gibbs voice had grown so quiet, McGee could barely hear him.

As they reached Tony's private room, room number 438, he steeled himself. It always unnerved him to see one of his teammates, particularly Tony who was always so buoyant and full of life, lying in a hospital bed.

He winced internally when Gibbs opened the door and he could see Tony, IV in his arm, cannula in his nose, and black, velcro restraints on his wrists.

He found it hard to believe that this was the same man who had been teasing him about his 'poor taste in movies' as they left work. It was just too difficult to wrap his head around the fact that the usually teasing, good natured agent in front of him had tried to kill himself less than a few hours ago.

Gibbs' shut the door after McGee and went to take a seat on Tony's right while McGee, following Gibbs' actions, took a seat on his left.

They both sat in silence, staring at the man in front of them, watching the even rising and falling of his chest. Comforted for the moment that he was still breathing.

"Did he tell you, McGee?" Gibbs spoke suddenly, forty-five minutes later.

The younger man jumped slightly in his seat, surprised his boss had addressed him so suddenly.

"Tell me what?" he asked, confused by his superior's question.

"What was bothering him." Gibbs answered simply, never taking his eyes from the still man in the bed.

"No." he replied, feeling slightly defeated, he had hoped Gibbs would be able to answer that question, "No, he never told me." he added with a sigh.

Gibbs simply nodded, not saying another word. But now that the conversation was started, he didn't want to leave it unfinished.

"Boss?" he asked, making sure he actually had the other man's attention.

"Hmm?"

"Did you notice anything....odd lately? I mean, did you notice if Tony was acting any different?"

This time it was Gibbs' turn to sigh in defeat, "No, McGee, I didn't. Seemed normal to me. Well, at least as normal as DiNozzo can be." he said with a slight hint of humor, attempting the lighten the dark conversation that had started.

McGee smirked slightly in agreement; knowing too that if it had been a normal situation Tony would have protested loudly to Gibbs' remark, causing Ziva to hit him and insist Gibbs was right, which would lead to a fight that Gibbs would let slide until just before it got of control and then he would rein them back in by smacking them both on the back of the head, making sure to give Ziva the lighter slap, just to tease Tony in his own way.

'_Ziva'_, he thought suddenly.

He frowned. They still hadn't called anyone else. The others were still asleep, blissfully unaware that one of their own had nearly died tonight.

"Boss, shouldn't we call the rest of the team? Let them know." he asked.

"No." Gibbs answered quickly, "Let 'em sleep; we'll call 'em when he wakes up. All they could do now is wait and worry, there's no point."

He nodded, Gibbs was right. As always.

With a heavy sigh, McGee settled back into his chair to catch a few hours of sleep. It was going to be a long night.

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**Hope you enjoyed the chapter! :) Please let me know what you thought! A review always brghtens my day.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Okay everyone, heres the next chapter. Enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't McGee, Tony, or Gibbs.....*sigh* Now if thats not the most depressing setence I've ever hear I don't know what is........**

_Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick._

Gibbs glared up the clock on the wall. If he didn't know better, he would have sworn it was getting louder with each tick, it's sole purpose to annoy him.

His gaze shifted from the wall back to the form in the bed in front of him and attempted to focus on the beeping of the heart monitor instead. At least with each beat of the monitor, he was assured Tony still was alive. Contrary to the clock that just served to remind him that more time was passing and Tony still hadn't woken up.

It had been eighteen long hours since he and McGee had settled in to chairs on either side of Tony's bed, neither ever leaving for more than a few moments to use the head or grab some crappy coffee from the machine down the hall.

He shifted in his seat, winching as his stiff muscles protested the movement. He'd been sitting in this stupid chair too long. At least this hospital had been kind enough to provide it's visitors with a cushioned seat and backing, but when one took up residence in the seat for over half a day, the comfort became less noticeable.

Staring back down at the figure of Tony DiNozzo, who seemed impossibly pale and unnaturally still, he willed the younger man to wake up.

Though he wasn't quite sure what was going to happen when he did. How Tony would react. How he would react. Or McGee for that matter.

Would Tony be disappointed that his attempt to end his life had failed? Angry at McGee for saving him? Or, hopefully, willing to seek help for whatever problem had that had pushed him over the edge?

He was equally unsure of how he and McGee would react. He knew McGee was grateful his partner was safe for the time being. But his later reaction depended solely on how Tony would react. He knew the younger man was shaken by what had happened to his friend and the fact that his friend had been the one to cause it. Of course, how was he supposed to figure out what the other other two would do when he didn't even know how he was going to handle the situation.

Since he had been woken nineteen hours earlier by the ringing phone that would tell him of his agent's attempt to end his life, he felt as if he had been on rollar-coaster with his emotions, something he was not used to feeling. Shock, desperation, anger, fear, gratefulness, worry, pain, and who knows what else coursed through his system and while most of the time he was able to keep his emotions in perfect check, he wasn't so sure he would be able to do so this time.

His head snapped up when he heard the click of the door opening. McGee walked in balancing two coffees in one hand, using the other to shut the door behind him.

"Machine was out, Boss." the younger man said in way of explanation to his tardiness, "I had to go down a couple of floors to find another one."

He only nodded in reply.

"Here ya' go, Boss." McGee said, leaning over the bed to set the cup on the stand in front of him. The younger agent froze, however, and his hand stilled on the cup before he was able to pull back.  
He had noticed too.

Both of their gazes zeroed in on on Tony, watching as his fists clenched and unclenched themselves at his side, and his eye lids fluttered slightly.

McGee glanced at him and they shared a quick look before McGee slowly started to pull back and shifted closer to his partner's bed.

He leaned forward in his seat, keeping his attention on DiNozzo's face, watching for the green eyes beneath his lids to make themselves known.

He reached out a hand to lay on Tony's shoulder, hoping the human contact would be enough to ground him from his dreamscape.

It worked. Within a few moments, his eyelids ceased any movement to finally open a few seconds later to stare up at him.

A smile tugged at his face, but he refused to allow it to show just yet.

"Boss?" Tony questioned, his voice cracking slightly.

"Who else, DiNozzo?" he joked slightly as an immense sense of relief flooded his system. Tony was, physically at least, okay. Now if only he could say that about the rest of him.

As if sensing another presence in the room, Tony shifted his eyes from his gaze to search the room. His green irises landed on McGee and Tony smiled slightly.

"Hey, Probie."

McGee smiled back, albeit shakily, before diverting his eyes, not quite sure how to face his partner just yet.

Gibbs watched as Tony's brow creased slightly in confusion before turning his eyes back to him.

He watched as the younger man attempted to push himself up slightly to get into a more comfortable position, only to be halted by the straps over his wrists.

"Uh, boss, why do I have restraints on?" Tony asked, lifting his gaze to him, his face covered in confusion.

His own brow creased in confusion. Maybe DiNozzo didn't remember? Or was he trying to pass it off, hoping neither of them would figure out what he had attempted?

"You don't remember?" he asked simply.

"Uh, no." Tony answered, obviously even more confused by Gibbs question. "Seriously, Gibbs, why do they have me on lock-down?"

Gibbs simply blinked, unsure of how to answer and unsure of what exactly DiNozzo's motive was.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw McGee tighten the grip he had on the foot board of his partner's bed. The younger man was obviously trying to keep his cool.

Gibbs could probably count on one hand the number of times McGee had really lost his temper, the younger man always had a good handle on those kind of things. However, everyone did have a breaking point.

"Boss?" Tony's voice broke through into his thoughts.

He hadn't realized that during his quiet observation of McGee, he had stalled on answering Tony's question for more than a few minutes.

"Boss, why?" his agent reiterated, his voice sounding normal to most ears, but to Gibbs was able to pick out the slight note of panic, due to the confusion and lack of answers. Tony always hated not knowing.

"It's not like I did anything wrong......Right?" he questioned.

Gibbs opened his mouth to respond but was quickly cut off by his formerly silent agent.

"You did nothing wrong?!" he yelled, causing Tony to jerk slightly in surprise and to stare at his partner wide-eyed.

"McGee," Gibbs said in warning.  
But McGee either didn't or chose not to hear his subordinate and carried on.

"How can you say that?! How can you not see something wrong with what you did?!" he yelled.

"McGee, I just---"

"No! There is no 'just' about it! What you did was just...." he stumbled for a moment, at a loss of words, "It was just stupid! And another thing," he paused going around his chair to get closer to Tony, "Another thing, how could you think you couldn't trust us? We're you're friends aren't we?! You're supposed to _trust _your friends, aren't you? Did you think we would ignore you?! That we wouldn't listen to what was going on?! Did you really think that this was the only way out of it?!"

Tony stared wide-eyed, completely floored by his partners reaction. He had seen McGee angry, seen McGee lose his temper, seen him yell and threaten, but he had never seen him like this. McGee was beyond ire. And he had no idea what he was supposed to have done to cause it.

Gibbs, while not showing the outward reaction Tony was, was also shocked by his agent. Although a part of him agreed with what the man was saying and was silently cheering him on at his words. More than once those same thoughts and questions had passed through his own mind. But yet another part of his realized he needed to rein McGee in or get him to take a breather before he said something he would regret.

"McGee," He tried again, louder this time than the first. Again, no reaction.

"You should have thought it through! And you know what? I think that's your whole problem, you don't think before you act! Did it even cross your mind, the implications of what could have happened?! Did you even care?! No, obviously not! Well, you know what DiNozzo?! You're j---"

"McGee!!" Gibbs yelled, this time successfully cutting the man off before he could finish whatever he was about to say.

McGee halted, looking over to Gibbs.

Gibbs was more than slightly shocked at the murderous glare he received from the younger man before McGee simply turned on his heel and left without another word, slamming the door loudly behind him.

There were several tense, awkward moments before either of the senior agents so much as breathed, much less talked.

"Well," Tony said shakily, "Guess was bound to erupt sometime." he knew it wasn't his best attempt at breaking the silence, but he knew no other way to go about doing so. He had always moved past bad and awkward times using wouldn't hurt to try that this time either, would it?

Gibbs' glared. _That _was his breaking point. He had already been teetering on a very thin line between keeping his cool and carefully asking DiNozzo what had caused him to swallow those pills or losing control and blowing up in the man's face. And Tony's poor taste at attempting to joke about the situation, attempting to blow off his near death by suicide and his partner's explosion which, while McGee shouldn't have done it in such a way, was true in what he was saying, had just shoved Gibbs right over the line.

"Is that what you think, DiNozzo?" he growled tersely, "That this is all some stupid joke?"

Tony winced. Gibbs may not have yelled, but he recognized that voice. And honestly, right now he'd prefer the yelling.

He steeled himself for Gibbs' blow-up. At least this one he expected.

"Because 'ya know, DiNozzo, most of what McGee was saying is a hundred percent!" Gibbs snapped, standing up to tower over Tony.

Tony flinched, pressing himself down further into the pillows. A move that didn't go unnoticed by Gibbs. He realized he was scaring Tony. Not only that, but he was doing just what he had chastised McGee for only moments before.

Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes momentarily to calm his anger. When he reopened them he noticed Tony watching him with careful and guarded eyes.

Swallowing down the rest of the rant he had been ready to unleash on the younger man, he asked one simple question. One that had been plaguing his mind since this whole mess started. And one he desperately needed to know the answer to.

"Why did you do it, Tony?" he asked quietly.

Tony just stared for a moment, shocked at his subordinate's swift change in a mood and at his quiet question. It seemed like everyone was doing the exact opposite of what he expected them to do.

Realizing Gibbs was still waiting for an answer, he opened his mouth to answer only to realize he didn't even remember the question much less know the answer.

"Um, what was that, Boss?" Maybe if he pretended he hadn't heard properly in the first place Gibbs would lose his cool again.

Wrong.

"Why did you do it, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, his voice growing louder as his patience evaporated, "What exactly was going on in that head of yours?!" Gibbs yelled.

A few nurses paused and peaked through the small window in the door but Gibbs didn't pay them any attention, he was focused solely on the man in the bed in front of him.

Tony swallowed hard at the look in his bosses eyes. They were filled with anger and.....fear?

Tony bit his lip, he was so confused and frustrated. And if he was being honest with himself, scared.

It was all getting to be too much for his tired and still slightly foggy brain to handle. And, just like the previous two NCIS agents, he had neared his breaking point.

"Boss, what're you talking about? What was McGee talking about? What the heck is going on here?!" he yelled finally, his voice taking on a combination of frustration and panic. He just wished someone would tell him what was going on. Last thing he remembered was plopping down on the sofa with his pizza and plans to head straight to bed for at least eight hours of blissful, desperately needed sleep. Now, next thing he knew, he was in a hospital room and McGee and Gibbs were treating him like he was some lunatic, wanting to know 'Why?' and 'What he was thinking'. How was he supposed to answer that when he didn't know what he had supposedly done?

"I'm talking about the fact that you tried to _kill_ yourself, DiNozzo! Or has that little tid-bit slipped your mind?" the older agent yelled, his anger going up another three notches, if that were even still possible.

Tony blinked, his face going blank as he simply stared at his , for his part, was still staring the other man down, his fists clenched at his sides.

"What?" Tony finally asked. How exactly were you supposed to handle being told you were not only suicidal, but that you had tried to kill yourself when you didn't feel suicidal in the least or even remember what had happened when you _supposedly _had tried to kill yourself.

Gibbs had closed his eyes and took a deep breath, willing himself not to punch the wall.

"Why did you try to overdose, DiNozzo?" he asked, not opening his eyes.

"What?" Tony asked again. He just wasn't sure exactly sure how to answer that particular question. He was still trying to wrap his head around it completely.

_'Well, guess that explains the restraints' _Tony thought dryly.

"Dang it, DiNozzo!" the team leader yelled, his eyes flying open, "I just want to know why you did it! What was so bad that you couldn't talk to someone, anyone, about it?!" he exploded.

Tony stayed silent a few moments before finally wrapping his head around what Gibbs was telling him.  
"Boss, I honestly don't know what you're talking about, I didn't try to....kill myself, I swear." he said quietly.

"Yeah? Then why did McGee find you in your apartment, passed out with a bottle of empty pain pills in your hand, DiNozzo?!" he asked, continuing to yell. He knew he should probably calm down, knew that his anger probably wasn't helping the situation, knew that it was irrational. But so be it, he wanted to be mad right now. He wanted to be mad at Tony, wanted to be mad that the younger man had nearly died, wanted to be mad at himself.

"Pain pills?" Tony asked, still dumbfounded, "Gibbs, I swear to you on my mother's grave, I did _not_ try to kill myself. You gotta believe me. I don't know how or why I ended up with those pills, but I didn't do it, boss, I swear.

Gibbs simply stared at him instead of answering.

"Look, boss, I admit, things aren't perfect. Cases get to me, I get nightmares, sometimes I can't sleep, but that comes with the job. You know that as well as I do. Sure, I have issues, show me one person who doesn't! But I swear to you, nothing is that bad. Ever. I didn't do it." he tried to assure. He stared Gibbs in the eyes, hoping to convey every fiber of truth through his eyes to Gibbs, just to get him to see, to understand. He needed Gibbs to understand. He hadn't, _wouldn't_, try to kill himself. Now he just needed Gibbs to believe that too.

Gibbs, again, continued to stare. Debating with himself weather to actually believe Tony or not.

He _wanted _to believe the younger man. If he was telling the truth, that meant there was no reason to doubt Tony's trust or to doubt his trust in Tony. But then again, if he was telling the truth and he really hadn't done it, there was still the matter of how the pills ended up in the system and the bottle in his hands. And why exactly someone would try to kill his senior filed agent. But at the moment that was just another Pandora's Box he really didn't want to open. On the other hand, if Tony were lying and he believed him and had the doctors remove the restraints, Tony could try again, and this time he just might succeed. And the chance of having a dead Tony compared to an alive one, no matter how many problems the younger man may be having, was something Gibbs could never afford to gamble with. He needed to know for sure.

He stared into the eyes of the ex-cop, searching for his answers.

He prided in the fact that, no matter how many masks Tony wore or put in place and no matter how well he could fool anyone else, he was able to see past them all by simply looking into the younger man's eyes. No matter what Tony did or said or how he acted, he couldn't hide anything completely in his eyes. There was always a tiny shred of it there if anyone bothered to look deep enough.

Finally, Gibbs nodded slowly.

"I believe you, DiNozzo." he confirmed quietly.

* * *

Gibbs strode down the long hallway, searching the around the corners and in the various waiting centers, hoping to find his way-ward agent.

He didn't think McGee would have actually left the hospital. No matter how mad he was at Tony or even how mad he was at Gibbs himself, he cared about the well-being of his partner too much to just leave without knowing that Tony would in-fact be okay. He had to be here somewhere.

Even if he did find him, Gibbs wasn't exactly sure what to say to the younger man that would make him listen least of all believe Tony was telling the truth. He really _hadn't _tried to kill himself and he really didn't have any idea as to how the pill bottle had gotten to his hand or how he had managed to swallow the whole bottle.

He had informed Gibbs that the last thing he remembered was sitting on the couch, eating his fill of pizza and debating on which movie to watch. After that, nothing. He couldn't remember anything. Gibbs wasn't sure if it was due to the medication that had been in DiNozzo's system or maybe his mind suppressing what had happened. Either way, DiNozzo couldn't tell him anymore than that.

So, with a sworn promise (not only to DiNozzo, but to himself as well) that they would find out what had happened, and a strict order to the nurses on duty to take Tony out of the restraints, Gibbs had left in search of McGee.

He paused in his stride as he caught a glimpse of the subject of his search pacing in one of the empty waiting rooms at the end of the hall.

McGee had, by no means, lost his raging temper yet and Gibbs was sure he was going to blow off some more steam, possibly in Gibbs' direction. But, if that's what the younger man needed, so be it.

Gibbs leaned against the frame of the doorway, not saying a word, waiting to see if his agent even acknowledged his presence.

Sure enough, several moments later McGee finally broke the silence between them.

"Why is he acting like that, boss?" he asked, continuing to pace, his eyes never leaving the floor, "How can he just brush it off like that?"

Gibbs didn't answer, he just let the younger man continue.

"I mean, I get that it's probably hard to talk about, but it's just......." McGee paused to reflect for a moment before shaking his head, obviously frustrated, before taking up his pacing again.

"Does he really not trust us at all?" I mean, we're his friends, right? We're at least his partners and partners are supposed to trust each other, but how can we trust him, if he doesn't even trust us?!" his voice raised with each word until they were a yell again.

Right there it was. Another huge reason this had been bothering McGee so much. He and Tony had always been friends. Family even. They hung out, joked and teased, trusted each other, relied on one another. But after Ziva had stayed in Israel, their bond had strengthened. They didn't have Ziva to help watch their backs anymore and had to rely even more on the other person. They weren't only brothers anymore, but best friends too. And McGee's trust in Tony and their friendship and his trust in the fact that Tony had trust in him and their relationship too had grown. And now that trust had been shaken. Badly.

Not that he put any blame to McGee. Just the opposite. He understood exactly how McGee felt. He had known Tony for nine years. Nine years of trusting and going through hardships and dead partners and relying fully on the fact that the other person would always be there to pull you out of whatever dire situations you found yourself in. Nine years of bonding over steak dinners and working on his boat. Nine years of going from partners, to friends, to family.

"And where does he get off acting like he doesn't know what we're even talking about?!" McGee's yell drew him out of his musements. "I suppose he's just going to pretend like it never happened?! Like he never swallowed a whole bottle of pills! Like I didn't find him half-dead in his own apartment! Like the doctors just barely saved his life! Everythings just going to go back to normal now, right?!" He stopped pacing now and was instead standing in front of Gibbs, finishing the rant the team lead had halted back in Tony's room. "Well, you know what?! I can't do that! I can't just forget about riding with him in the back of the ambulance, thinking that he was going to die and praying every second that he wouldn't!" McGee gave a bitter laugh, "I guess it's my fault, right? Something I did!"

His tone was bitter and sarcastic but Gibbs noted the flash in the younger man's eyes. He blamed himself.

"Yeah, maybe it is! Maybe it's my fault that I didn't notice! Maybe he tried to say something and I just didn't listen! Maybe there _were_ signs and I didn't pay attention! Maybe it is my fault that he almost died!" He tried to make his voice sound sarcastic, but the longer he spoke, the quieter and more truthful sounding his words became.  
It was his fault. He should have noticed. He should have payed attention. Tony was his friend and he didn't even notice he was hurting, that he was in trouble. What kind of friend was he if he couldn't even watch out for the older man. His best friend was in the hospital and it was all his fault.

"Well, you know what? I don't care who's fault it is!" he continued, yelling again, "I can't pretend like that didn't happen! I won't!" he yelled with finality, stopping with his tirade.

He took several deep breaths, still staring at Gibbs, waiting for the older man's reaction.

"You done?" Gibbs asked, quietly.

He blinked, surprised at Gibbs' question. After pausing a few seconds, he answered: "Yeah. Yeah, I'm done."

"Feel better?" Gibbs asked.

Again he was a little surprised with his superior's question, but he answered anyway.

"A little bit, yeah."

"Good."

McGee's brow furrownened in confusion at his superiors reaction to his outburst and Gibbs nearly smirked at the look of outright befuddlement on the younger man's face.

After a short stretch of several, silent moments, McGee spoke again.

"Did you talk to Tony?" he asked.

Gibbs bit back a proud smile. Even if he was mad as hell at his partner, his concern for Tony's well being, was still a higher priority than most everything else.

"Yup." Gibbs answered simply. McGee was not going to like this part.

"What did he say?"

"That he didn't do it."

The younger man pursed his lips, but didn't say anything.

"What do you think?" He asked quietly after a few seconds of reining in his temper.

Gibbs paused for a few seconds. He knew McGee wasn't going to like this one bit.

"DiNozzo didn't do it." he said finally.

"You too?!" McGee yelled, his temper automatically rising again, whatever control he may have had over it before gone.

He was slightly taken aback my the younger man's tone and query. It wasn't often McGee spoke to anyone, least of all him, in that way.

He felt a slight pang for the kid when he realized the outburst was due to the fact that his emotions, like his own, were out of their control as of late. Everything over the past day had caused to disrupt their feelings and whatever masks any of them had, had in place and make it simply uncontrollable at times to register what they said or did before it was already out in the open.

"He said he didn't do it, I believe him." Gibbs answered with certainty.

"Boss, how can you think Tony d---?"

"Do you trust me McGee?" Gibbs interrupted in a quiet, calm voice, that was more than a little unusual for him.

His agent blinked at the sudden change in topic, but answered immediately anyway. "Of course."

Gibbs' heart swelled with a moment of pride at the absolute trust and certainty he heard in McGee's voice.

"Tony didn't do it." Gibbs repeated.

McGee pursed his lips, but didn't say anything.

Gibbs watched his eyes and noted the internal struggle going on in the younger man between what his gut and what his mind was telling him.

McGee was smart, incredibly so, and he had good instincts. Though sometimes his mind over-rode what his gut was trying to tell him and instead of going on instinct, he'd try to solve the situation as a puzzle. Gibbs just hoped this wouldn't be one of those times.

"Then how---?" the younger agent started.

"I don't know yet, McGee. Someone could have hid it in his food, they could have attacked him and he doesn't remember. It happens."

McGee's calculating eyes bored straight into his. Seeking answers. Gibbs stared back, hoping that whatever McGee was silently asking, his certainty of Tony's innocence would be enough to assure the younger man.

McGee wanted to believe it. More than anything. But, if they were wrong, he didn't want to make another mistake. If they were wrong, then they had missed something. Something vital. Something, some sign or comment, that had given light to the fact that there was something going on with Tony. What if they made that mistake again? He struggled for a few moments between two possibilities. He either had to believe in his bosses gut, which had never failed them in the five years he had known the man, and between the evidence in front of him. Being an agent, he had been trained to follow the evidence. The science. If you had proof, it must be true. But being trained as one of Gibbs' agent, McGee knew that sometimes the evidence was sometimes faulty. It could be planted or faked. He could remember countless times when the evidence had led them in the wrong direction. But the number of times Gibbs' had led them astray was......well, none.

Still staring at his boss, McGee asked, "I screwed up, didn't I, boss?" His cheeks coloring slightly at the realization that he had not only reamed out his partner, but he had also yelled at his boss in accusation.

"No, McGee, you didn't screw up. You lost your temper. Happens to the best of us sometimes." the senior agent assured.

McGee smiled shyly in thanks, more than a little grateful for the understanding and assurance.

"I think I had, uh, better go talk to Tony." he said after a few seconds, sliding past his boss on his way back to his friend's room.

Gibbs reached out and patted in shoulder in encouragement, as he walked by.

Even if they didn't know who, or why, this situation started, at least things were starting to look up.

One problem solved. A million more to go.

* * *

**Whoo-hoo! Chapter 3! :D The next chapter may take a little longer because I've kinda stuck on how to end it just right, but I promise I'll get it up. **

**Leave a review please! :) They just make my day!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Sorry this chapter took longer. I was stuck on the ending, it just wouldn't come out the way I wanted, but I finally got it. :) **

**Again, the next chapter may be a little longer because I don't have much work done on it yet, I'm trying to work out some of the details of how it should go. But don't worry, I'll get it up. :)**

**Disclaimer: Don't own it. Never did, never will. (Sad, isn't it?)**

* * *

_'He didn't do it.'_

The words continued to buzz in Tim's mind. He wasn't sure how to take them. On one hand he felt nothing but relief that his partner hadn't tried to kill himself, that his guilt had been misplaced. But on the other hand he felt nothing but deep, horrible guilt.

He'd yelled at his partner. He accused him of something that wasn't even his fault.

Granted, it wasn't his intention to lose his cool like he did. He'd never intended to get so mad at Tony. Even before Gibbs had told him Tony wasn't the one to take the pills, he knew it wasn't all Tony's doing. He knew it was partly his fault too for not noticing. No-one had noticed. But what had made him so mad, was when he thought Tony was trying to brush everything off. It had made him so angry that his partner thought his attempt to take his own life was that meaningless, that it didn't matter. He just got so mad that his friend didn't realize that he had people who cared and loved him and would have been completely crushed had he died.

And as it turned out, Tony hadn't even done anything. He'd yelled at his partner for nothing.

McGee paused outside the door, hand on the door-knob, taking a few deep breaths. He really didn't want to do this.

It wasn't that he didn't want to apologize. He'd messed up and he needed to make things right. But he really didn't want to see the look of hurt on Tony's face, or hear the disappoint in his friends voice. And more importantly, he really didn't want to lose his friendship with the older man over such a stupid mistake.

Drawing all of his courage up in one breath he opened the door and walked in, shutting the door behind him. The soft click as he shut the door was almost deafening.

He looked over the only bed. Tony was sitting up now, the restraints that had been confining him, gone.

Tony looked up as McGee entered and the younger agent almost winced.

"Hey, McGee." Tony greeted. He didn't sound angry or disappointed. That was a good sign.

"Hey." he returned quietly.

There was several moments of uncomfortable silence, neither finding quite the right words to start a conversation.

"Don't have the TV on?" McGee asked eventually, nearly head-slapping himself for the question.

"Nope, didn't feel like it, I guess."

"It's just that you mentioned a big Magnum marathon on this weekend; I thought you'd be catching up before it's over."

"Nah, as tempting as that sounds, I needed some quiet."  
"Oh," McGee blushed slightly at what he assumed was an indirecet and kind way of saying 'Just leave, I want to be alone'. "Right. I'll...I'll just go." He turned and made to slip out to door, only to be stopped by Tony.

"I didn't mean you, Probie."

Tony waited until McGee had nodded, shut the door, and turned to face him before continuing.

"Was trying to remember what happened last night."

"And?" McGee asked, hoping his partner had at least retrieved a single shred of memory, something that would lead them to catch whoever it was that had did this to the senior agent.

"Nothing." Tony sighed, exasperated, throwing his head back against the pillow. "I remember going home, sitting on the couch, and then...nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zippo."

McGee nodded silently, unsure of how to reassure his partner. They had worked plenty of cases where the victim had amnesia of the event of their attack. Some of them got it back within a few hours, day, months, some even years. Others never remember at all and simply had to rely on their work and the forensic evidence to tell them what happened for the however many hours or days that was still lapsed for them.  
Tony knew just as well as he did that he may never remember and there was no use in telling him that he would when no-one, not even the doctors, would be able to tell for sure.

"That sucks." he commented with a wince of sympathy.

"No kidding. It's like someone just erased it from my memory." the senior agent said with a shake of the head. "The nurse said it was probably the drugs. Taking so many, just wiped everything out."

McGee looked down. It was now or never.

"Yeah, Tony, about that...Gibbs...Gibbs told me it wasn't your fault. That you didn't take them."

"I didn't." Tony confirmed. This is exactly what he'd been afraid of; that McGee wouldn't believe him. He knew how things must have looked and he didn't blame McGee for thinking the way he did. He just wished he'd have believed Gibbs and they could quit fighting. Right now he needed his partner to watch back. He needed his friend.

"No! No, I know that. Well, now I do." McGee corrected quickly, not wanting Tony to get the wrong impression.  
"Oh. Oh, well that's good." Tony responded, nearly breathing a huge sigh of relief. McGee did believe him. Thank God. Now, why in the world was he acting like he was about ready to walk to the gallows?

"Look, Tony, I...I am sorry...for, you know, yelling at you...like I did...I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions...I should have heard you out, but I just...just got so mad. And I'm...really sorry for what I said."

There was silence for just a few seconds before Tony responded with a snort of laughter. McGee winched. Okay, so not the best of a apologizes, he decided, but he had hoped Tony would accept it. He couldn't blame him really for scoffing, after the things he'd said. But he could hope.

"You're an idiot, Probie, did you know that?" Tony said.

McGee bit his lip and hung his head. "Yeah, actually I do, now."

"And that, my friend, is why you're an idiot."

"Huh?"

Tony shook his head. "I didn't mean you were an idiot for blowing up. You're an idiot for thinking that any of this was your fault. Need to stop blaming yourself, Probie."

McGee raised in eyebrow slightly in disbelief.

"You think you're the only one to blow up at his partner before?" Tony asked.

"No." the younger man answered.

"Then what's the problem?"

"Because I am probably the only one to yell at their _injured _partner, for something that wasn't even their fault."

"Ha! You really do think you're the only one to have done that, don't you?" Without waiting for answer, Tony added, "You should have been there when I lost my cool with Gibbs."  
"You blew up at Gibbs?" McGee's eyes widened and smirk played at the corner of his mouth.

"Yup." Tony grinned, seemingly proud of the fact.

"And you're still alive?" the younger man asked.

Tony threw his head back and laughed. "I think he was kinda surprised. I doubt any of his other probies had bothered to stand up to him like that before."

"You were a probie?" McGee nearly chocked at that.

Tony's grin widened. "Seven months as an agent."

McGee's mouth dropped. It's not that he couldn't picture Tony standing up to Gibbs. Not at all. He'd seem him go head to head with Gibbs before and he knew Tony would be willing to do it again if he thought it was necessary. But he just couldn't imagine that any probie, especially one who hadn't even been on the team for one full year, could blow off steam at Gibbs like that and still have a job 8 years later.

Seeing he had indeed gotten the younger man's attention and curiosity, Tony smirked a little, nodding him over.

Hesitating for only a few seconds, McGee made his way over to his partner, pulling up his previously vacated chair closer to the bed.

"We had been working the case for about a week for about week before we caught a lead so Gibbs was about ready to go postal anyway..." Tony started; noting McGee was already listening with rapt attention, he continued on telling him about how the case had finally come to a head when Gibbs had managed to procure the name of their small times arms dealer from one of his buyers. And, impatient as always, Gibbs had called Tony on his way to the location instead of waiting to meet up with Tony and have backup. Needless to say, Tony had arrived in good time, but not before his boss had taken a round to the arm. Three inches to the left and the older man would most certainly have been dead.

After having an hour and half to stew over it at the hospital while waiting for his boss, the more angry the probie agent had gotten. Most especially after he had realized just how close his new boss and mentor had come to being killed. So when the older man had come out, with a newly casted arm, and had tried to brush off the bullet wound in his arm as a lucky shot on the opponents part, Tony had lost his cool just a little. He'd ended up yelling at Gibbs right there in the hospital parking lot, attracting the attention of a couple or so dozen vistors on their way in to see loved ones and nurses who were out on break.

Gibbs had seemed more than slightly surprised at the little rant, but said nothing. Only waiting a few mere minutes after Tony's yelling ceased to ask him if he was through.

Tony hadn't said any more on the subject after that, simply driving his boss home before going to the office to square things with away at the for the boss.

It wasn't until almost a week later, after catching a glance at his bosses' official report, that he'd realized his mistake. Gibbs hadn't rushed into the scene because of impatience. He'd rushed in because they'd snatched an unfortunate civilian who'd happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, using the poor woman as a hostage. She'd run off after her release and the shooting started, eager to get away from the danger.  
After reading the report, he had seriously considered just resigning then and there, before deciding that since he'd had the guts to yell at his boss, he should at least have the guts to apologize.

"You actually tried to apologize? To Gibbs?" McGee asked, smirking ever so slightly at the thought.

"Well, maybe not in so many words. I had been working there seven months, Probie. I wasn't completely dense." the field agent replied with a smirk of his own, "I'd figured out by then that if I tried to apologize, Gibbs'd smack me upside the head."  
McGee's only response was a snort of amusement. "Okay, so you didn't apologize. What did you say to him then?" he asked, genuine curiosity in his voice.

"Told him I was an idiot." Tony said smiling as he grabbed one of the jello cups the nurses has brought in earlier and popped off the lid, "He agreed."

This time McGee couldn't help himself, he laughed. Tony apprantly didn't mind in the least since he started to laugh right along with him.

After their laughter had quieted into silence, Tony continued. "You know what else he told me, Probie?"

McGee raised his brow in question.

"He said not to worry about it. We're all idiots sometimes. And most of the time, you don't even mean to be one, it just happens."

The younger agent contemplated that for a moment, Tony did have a point.

"So, see, McGee? You're not the only one." Tony comforted.

"Yeah, but I still broke one of Gibbs' rules. 'Never assume'. And I should have trusted you more."

Tony sighed heavily, putting his near empty jello cup and spoon back on the tray.

"Look, Tim, you did what anyone would expect you to do. I can imagine what it must have looked liked." noticing McGee was still skeptical, he added, "Look at it this way, Gibbs, human lie-detector Gibbs, didn't believe me either."

McGee smirked a little in amusement, but didn't answer.

Rolling his eyes in fond frustration, Tony said, "You're a good friend, Tim. Whether you believe it or not. Maybe you misjudged this time. So what, it happens. The point is, you may have been mad at me, but I know you, Probie. You still cared and would have stuck by me. _That's _what counts."

Tim cocked his head to the side, considering Tony's words. He was right of course. He had been mad at Tony, and even more so at himself. But the fact that Tony was his friend and that his friend needed his help, didn't change. And just because he was mad, defiantly didn't mean he was going to abandon his friend and partner. He would have helped Tony no matter what.

A small smile played at his lips as his guilt started to disappear. Maybe things _would _work out.

"So, friends, again?" Tony asked, smiling widely as he stuck out a hand.

Looking first at the hand and then up to his partner's smile, McGee shook his head before taking the offered hand and agreeing, "Friends."

McGee's own smile couldn't help but widen when Tony gave him one of his true, genuine, DiNozzo smiles.

The silence they fell into after that was much more comfortable and content than the last.

Of course, that didn't mean the silence would last.

"Wait until I tell Ziva." Tony's spoke up after a few moments.

McGee looked over at his partners, raising his eyebrows. His only answer was a smirk from Tony.

His eyes narrowed at Tony as the suspicion started forming in his mind, "You're not gonna let me live this down, are you? That I apologized to you."

"Nope." Tony replied with the widest, most irritating grin he could muster.

Instead of getting annoyed though, McGee smiled back.

He knew that Tony would keep his word and probably torment him to insanity and back, but so long as he was alive to do it he couldn't be happier.

* * *

Gibbs eyes scanned the waiting room with a quick, cursory glance, as he waited impatiently for the owner of the phone-number he had just dialed to pick up.

There was a pair of young women, obviously sisters if their matching looks were anything to go by, sitting across the way; one girl was idly flipping through a magazine while the other impatiently tapped her foot. A little across from them was a slightly elder couple, who kept sneaking glances at their watches in turn, an air of anxiousness surrounding them. And finally was a lone man, middle-aged man. Gibbs watched as he paced the length of the room, from one end to the other, the look of worry and impatience a constant expression on the man's face.

_'Been there.'_ Gibbs couldn't help think, as he watched the man continue to wear a hole into the floor. He couldn't count the number of times he walked through one waiting room or another, in a constant path, trying to wear off some of the adrenaline and worry he was feeling as he waited for information on a team-mate or friend.

_'Too many times,'_ Gibbs thought with a slight, inward grimace, _'Too many dang times.'_

And as DiNozzo had just proved last night, it could happen again at any time, to any one of them.

"Abby Scutio forensic extraordinaire here, how may I help you?" the perky voice echoed through the phone's speaker, interrupting Gibbs' depressing train of thought.

"Hey, Abs."

"Gibbs!" Abby's voice chirped excitedly through the phone and Gibbs' had to smirk. "What up, Bossman?"

"I need a favor, Abs."

"Sure thing, Gibbs. Whatca need?" she asked expectantly.

"I need you to go to the lab and run tests for finger prints off somethin' for me."  
"We have a case?"

"No, no case." he answered simply.  
"Then why do I need to run prints?" the goth questioned confusedly.

"Abby, It's...It's a long story." he replied with a sigh. He knew she would hate the lack of explanation, but he needed her to focus on her work and if she knew Tony was in the hospital, she would have too hard a time concentrating.

"Alright, but after you're done doing whatever it is you're doing, you had better tell me whats going on." she said in her best threatening voice.

"I will, Abby." he promised.

"Promise?"

He sighed, "Promise."

"Good." She said with finality, "Now. What am I running prints off of?"

"A bottle of Oxycontin."

"Oxycontin? Wow, that's some pretty powerful stuff. The gave my uncle Henry some at the ER after he crashed his Harley a couple of years ago. He was like 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' for like twp days."

"Abs." he interrupted with a sigh.

"Right. So, am I coming to pick it up, or..."

He smirked at her attempt to dig out more information, "It'll be in the lab when you get there, Abby."

He heard her sigh. "Okay, I'm on my way now, Gibbs."

Shaking his head fondly, he snapped the phone shut, and turned back towards Tony's room. Hopefully by now Tony and Tim and resolved their misunderstanading and things would be back to normal between the two. Well, at least as normal as those two could be.

He paused in his stride, however, as he caught sight of a familar face as the person turned the corner and made their way towards the exit.

"McGee!" he called, causing the younger man to stop in his tracks and backtrack to meet up with his boss.

"Yeah, boss?"  
"Where ya' going?"

"I was going to grab us something to eat...Tony coned a pizza out of me, so..." he trailed off shrugging his shoulders with a small smirk on his lips.

Gibbs nearly smiled at that. Everything was obviously right between the two partners again.

Nodding, he pulled the now tissue wrapped pill bottle McGee had handed him last night out of his pocket.

"Stop and drop this off at the Yard, would ya', McGee? Abby's on her way into the lab to run prints."

"Abby?" he asked, accepting the bottle with a slightly surprised look, "Does she know...?"

"No. Didn't tell her. But she knows somethings up."

McGee nodded, turning on his heel and heading for the door again.

"Hey, McGee!"

The younger man turned again, raising his eyebrows in question.

"Might wanna hurry before she gets in. May not make it out alive if ya' don't." he added with all the seriousness in his his voice as if he had just told someone their relative had just died, but his eyes held a flash of amusement.

Smirking, McGee nodded, turned back around, and left.

With a small smile of his own, Gibbs turned back and headed in the direction of Tony's room.

If nothing else, Gibbs mused, they were one step closer to things being back to normal.

* * *

**Just a side note, the line about Abby's uncle being 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' isn't mine. I happened to be watching an episode of the Nanny when writing that scene, and they used a similar line in the show. It just kina fit with what I was writing and I love that particular scene in the Nanny so much, I just had to add it, lol! :) **

**I'm not to happy with how I ended the scene with Tony and Tim either, but I hope you guys like it.**

**Anyway, PLEASE leave me a review. They fuel my muse, and get my fingers typing faster. ;)**


	5. Chapter 4

**Whoo-hoo! Got another chapter done! :D Aren't you all proud? lol! **

**Just a bit of a warning, I'm starting to delve into the case part of the fic and as I get farther into things, you may notice small mistakes. I appologize for those. Casefics have never been my strong point and while I have been putting my all into this fic and checking and rechecking details, things may still slip by. Again, sorry about that. But I promise to do my best. :)**

**Disclaimer: Not mine. Belongs to CBS.**

* * *

This was much better than the last time he had been he had been in the room, Gibbs decided as he reached for his second slice of the pizza Tim had brought and he listened to his two agents having one of their 'arguments' over...Well, he wasn't sure what it was over anymore. It had started with Tim making a comment about Tony's love of pizza and things had just escalated from there. Gibbs wasn't even sure if they knew what they were arguing about anymore.

Nor did he really care. He was just glad they were back on good terms again.

Even the noisy trill coming from Gibbs phone did nothing to stop their arguing.

Switching the pepperoni, sausage, and extra cheese slice from one hand to the another, Gibbs snatched up the object and glanced at the ID.  
Abby.

Appetite forgotten at the prospect of Abby having gotten them a lead, Gibbs tossed what was left of the slice back in the box and grabbed a napkin instead.

"Be back." he informed the two partners as he stood and walked out of the room, heading for the direction of the same waiting room he had previously used.

Reaching his destination, Gibbs flipped the phone open and asked, "What do ya' got for me, Abs?"

"My day is going well, thank you for asking, Gibbs. And hows yours?"

"Be allot better if you'd give me an update."

"Okay, okay. There was only a seven point print on the bottle. But I was able to narrow it down to twelve people." she said.

"Did you run-?"

"Background checks on them? But of course Gibbs!"

"And?" he asked.

"And I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for, but if criminal records were what you had in mind-" she teased.

"It was."

"I've got it down to two guys and one woman. The woman, Miss. Harper, was imprisoned for bashing her boyfriends head in with a tire iron, over in San Fransisco."

Well that was no good.

"Who's next?"

"Did you know the thing about red-heads having awful tempers, isn't true? ...But there seems to be a pattern of woman hitting their boyfriend, or husbands, over the head with-"

"Abby!" he growled.

"Right. Moving on. Well, the first guy seemed really hinky when I pulled up his picture, but turns out the only thing he was guilty of was taking a couple thousand bucks from the company he worked for here in Washington. Served one year." the goth added with a slight disappointed that her 'gut feeling' had failed her.

"And the last guy?"

"And last and most certainly least in the innocence category, was a head honcho in a drug underground. Busted by Phillie PD about twelve years ago. He was released four months ago. The cops tried to get a longer sentence, but they could only pin him for illegal possession."

"Got a name for me, Abs?"  
"David Kopek."

"Good work, Abs." he praised, "Think you can pull up some more of his background for me? I'll send McGee and David there in a few and have them pull his current info." He was tempted to go in himself just so that he could be the one to slap the cuffs on the moron who'd tried to kill DiNozzo in the first place, but he needed to keep on eye on Tony. Until they actually caught the man, he wasn't taking any chances of having the psychopath come back and try to finish his job of murdering his second in command. Besides, there was always the interrogation.

"Sure, that shouldn't take to long..." Abby paused hesitantly. "Gibbs?"

"Yeah, Abs?"  
"This has something to do with Tony, doesn't it?"

"Why do you ask, Abby?"

"Come on, Gibbs. Tony used to work with Phillie PD. Around the same time this guy was caught. Doesn't take a scientist to figure it out. Though, I am a scientist. Still I wouldn't have to be a scientist to know what's going on. But then if I weren't a scientist, I don't know what-"

"Abby!"

"Right. Sorry.

"Abs, Tony's fine.

"But Gibbs-"

"Abby, don't worry. I've got his six."

He heard her sigh. "I know, but Gibbs, this is Tony we're talking about. Our Tony! And if he's in trouble I want to know about."

"Abby-"

"He's my friend, Gibbs. I need to know." she interrupted softly.

Closing his eyes with sigh, Gibbs answered. "Someone came after Tony, Abs."  
She gasped, "Is he okay? Of course, he's not okay. Tony's never that lucky."

"Abs."

"I can't believe he got in trouble again! It's like he's a magnate for it!"

"Abs!"

"DiNozzo'll be fine."

"But Gibbs-"

"Abby, he'll be fine. I promise."  
There was silence on the the other end of the line as she deliberated. "Pinkie promise?" She asked after a moment.

Gibbs' lips quirked into a smile as he fondly rolled his eyes, "Sure."

"Okay. But I still want to see him."

"You can. But I need you at work first, Abby." knowing she'd protest, he continued before she had the chance, "Abs, the best thing you can do for Tony right now, is find out more about the guy who might be after him. The sooner we catch him, the safer Tony will be."  
"Well..." she paused, debating on her argument, but coming up with nothing plausible, she asked, "If I finish pulling up his info early and having nothing else to do, can I see Tony then?"  
"Don't see why not."

"Yes!" she cheered in silent victory, "Kay, bye Gibbs! I got work to do!"

Gibbs heard the land-line hit the cradle and then nothing. She'd hung up on him.

With a shake of the head at her enthusiasm, he snapped his cell shut, dropping it back in his pocket.

He'd have to call Ziva soon to meet McGee at the office, but first things first. He needed to talk to DiNozzo.

* * *

Shutting the door behind him, Gibbs surveyed the room. Tony was sitting up in bed still, eyes on the TV screen watching a movie or show of some kind play across the screen silently.

McGee, however, was no where in sight.

"Where's McGee?" he asked.

Smirking, Tony replied, "Destroying evidence." At Gibbs' raised eyebrow, he continued, "He went to dump the pizza box before the nurses found it. Said he'd bring back coffee."

With a smile tugging at his lips, Gibbs pulled up a chair.

Glancing from Tony to the TV screen, Gibbs asked, "No sound?"

"Please, Boss, this is my favorite episodes!" the younger man cried in a mock defensive tone, "I could quote it word for word."

Somehow, Gibbs didn't doubt that.

Not that he needed to since DiNozzo decided to prove himself. "See there?" he asked point at the man and woman on the screen, "They're arguing, which is typical for them." Then putting a slightly deeper tone, Tony quoted "Me? I'm condescending? I'm not the one who's gotta mention that she's got a doctorate every five minutes." Softening his tone, Tony added "I am the one with the doctorate."

Gibbs rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to interrupt, but Tony continued on, unknowingly cutting Gibbs off, before he had the chance.

Using the same deeper tone again, he continued with, "Yeah? Well you know what? I'm the one with a badge and a gun. So-"

"Okay, DiNozzo, okay. I get the point." Gibbs said quickly, cutting him off before he could continue any farther.

Flashing him a grin, Tony turned back to the screen.

Gibbs shook his head ruefully. Maybe he should let McGee babysit DiNozzo...

"What'd Abby have to say?" Tony asked casually, interrupting his train of thought.

Gibbs looked over at him in question, but Tony stayed silent. The only sign that he wasn't as casual as he appeared was the smirk playing at the corners of his mouth at the thought of having gotten one over on his boss.

"Got a print on the bottle McGee found. Three people with records matched, only one stands out though." he answered still not taking his eyes off his agent.

"Yeah? Who?" Tony asked, taking his eyes of the screen mounted on the wall to look at his employer.

"David Kopek. Sound familiar?" he asked, eying the younger man for a reaction. He got one. Most people wouldn't have picked up on it. But Gibbs had; he had noticed the way Tony's eyes darkened slightly and the tic that started at the corner of his eye. He also heard the odd note in his agent's voice when he answered.

"Yeah. Yeah, I remember him."

"What happened?" Gibbs asked quietly, cautiously. This had obviously hit a very sensitive nerve with DiNozzo.

"Was an undercover op I was on when I worked in Phillie. I was acting as a buyer for him for a while. Problem was, one of the guys who was selling to him recognized me as the cop who busted his buddy about six months back. I got away from him and called my partner for backup, but by then Kopek had found me. Beat the crap out of me. Would have killed me if some good samaritan hadn't seen what was going on an called nine-one-one. Was in the intensive care for over a month."

"A month?" Gibbs asked, slightly incredulous.

"Yeah, that's what happens when you have a punctured lung, a ruptured spleen, and you slip into a coma for about a week. The doctors tend to get worried about that kind of stuff." he commented with a nonchalant manner, but Gibbs saw through that too.

"Why didn't your partner show? And why wasn't that on your record? I think I would have remembered reading that."

Tony gave a bitter laugh."Funny you should ask that boss. The questions kinda go one into the other. See, turns out my partner was one of his pushers. Guess a cops salary wasn't enough. Turns out all the info I had been sending to him, never made it to HQ either. He covered it all up. And when I called for back-up, he ignored me. Guess he figured he'd tell the chief that I had thought I could handle myself and never called him. Worked perfect for him, I guess. Get rid of the guy who's trying to put his money source in jail and he can go back to selling drugs."

"Didn't happen though." Gibbs commented.

"Nope. He overcompensated. When the doctors said there was 80-20 chance I'd have brain damage and that we'd probably never know what happened, he took them for their word. Never figured I might make that 20 percent or that when I woke up I'd ask to talk to the captain and tell him that he never showed. Or that the captain would be smart enough to have him looked into and find out what he'd been up too."

"Always beating the odds, huh, DiNozzo?" Gibbs teased despite that the last thing he saw in the situation was amusement. Mainly he felt anger .Anger at Tony's _partner_. As a Marine he had been taught the you never, under any circumstances, screw over your buddy or partner. He'd even made it into a rule. Your partner was supposed to be someone you could trust with your life. Instead Tony's so-called partner had nearly led him to his death, purposely.

"Yeah." he mumbled, his attempt at a smile looking more like a grimace.

"Never did mention why it wasn't on the records." Gibbs pointed out.

"Oh yeah," Tony replied with a sarcastic smile, "Forgot the best part. Turns out he was the nephew of the senator. They decided it was best to keep things quiet, what with election week coming up and all. So they fired him for being non-responsive to his partner in a dire situation, but the drug issue was just kinda swept under the rug. No need for anyone to know right?"

Clenching his fists in his lap, Gibbs said, "That's why you left."

"Yup. Soon as I was cleared for travel, I grabbed my gear and went to Baltimore. Old college buddy of mine who had come to visit me in the hospital had a cousin who worked there. Said one of their detectives was retiring that year and they would be needing someone to replace him." Tony explained as he adjusted his pillow so he could lean back further. "Course, I didn't stay there too long either." he continued in a much lighter tone than before.

Gibbs looked up at the swift change in the younger man's attitude.

"Was getting ready to head out. Had thought about going to Miami, you know, be like the guys on Miami Vice." Tony said with a swift grin at having found a way to make a reference in their current conversation. "Never made it though." He commented with a slightly more serious look. "Met some cranky fed and this weird, old ME who liked to talk to his patients."

Gibbs just stared at him, trying hard not to grin at that. He knew what Tony was doing. He was doing what he always did when he was uncofortable or nervous. Deflecting. But if that's what DiNozzo needed to feel better, so be it.

"Don't know exactly how it happened..." Tony continued, feigning looking towards the sky in contemplation, "Somehow I ended up in DC as a fed...maybe I was kidnapped." he suggested seriously. When Gibbs didn't respond, he looked back at his boss to see the older man simply staring at him, his face expressionless; though he would swore he saw a spark of something akin to amusement in the other agent's eyes.

After a few more seconds of silence, Gibbs finally commented. "I'm gonna tell Ducky you called him weird."

Tony threw back his head and laughed, causing Gibbs to finally show a grin.

The door opened and Gibbs looked up. McGee entered, a carton with three coffees in one hand and a small, white bag in the other.

The younger man froze, eyebrows shooting up as he glanced from a laughing Tony to a smirking Gibbs.

He looked at Gibbs in question, but the other man simply shook his head, rose from his seat and walked over to snatch one of the cups from the carton.

"Abby has a lead so I'm gonna need you to head in to the office, McGee. I'll stay here and keep an eye on DiNozzo. I'm gonna go call Ziva and have her come in to back you."

And with that Gibbs left.

McGee stared at the door in surprise for a moment before going over to take a seat next to Tony who was still chuckling.

"What was that all about?" he asked, still curious, as he took one of the coffees and handed it to his partner.  
Tony paused contemplatively before answering, "Cranky feds, weird MEs, and kidnappings." he answered with a grin.

McGee shook his head as he undid the flap on the bag, "Forget I asked." he said. Reaching into the bag, he pulled out a tissue wrapped, white-cream donut and handed it to Tony.

"I love you, McGee." Tony commented, taking a bite of the treat.

Rolling his eyes good-naturedly at the man, Tim settled back in his chair for a few moments before he'd have to leave and took a sip of his own coffee.

'Cranky feds, weird MEs and kidnappings...Nope, he definitely didn't want to know.'

* * *

**Okay, two things.**

**1. I know it may seem a little out OOC of Abby not to come, but I really couldn't make it work for starters. And two, I wanted this story to focus more on Tony, Tim, and Gibbs.**

**2. Ten points to anyone who can guess the show I had Tony qoute! :)**

**That being said, I hope you all enjoyed! :) Please leave me a review! It would be VERY much appreciated.**


	6. Chapter 5

**Ten points to all those who guessed Bones for the show I mentioned last chapter! :)**

**Also, I tried to get back to everyone personally, but if I missed you, I appologize for that. Things have been kinda hectic around here and I've been havng difficulty keeping track of everything. **

**Disclaimer: Belongs to CBS**

* * *

McGee scowled at the image of forty-four year-old David Kopek that was currently taking up over half of the screen of his computer.

It was surprising, he realized, that you could detest a person so much without having actually met them. But seeing as the man had beaten the crap out of DiNozzo and was most likely the cause of the agents latest brush with dead, he decided it was excusable.

And, really, they had no proof. Just the fact that he hated Tony's guts, had tried to kill him and now, years later, just a few months after he had been released from prison, Tony had nearly died again. By being drugged of all things. Coincidence? Gibbs didn't believe in them.

And besides, Tim had to agree with Abby on this one. The man simply _looked _like a killer. What with his unnaturally bulked up arms, his angry scowl, and the tattoos covering him from head to toe.

He certainly had the motives. Probably the means too. And when they searched his home they would more than likely find their proof.

And when they did McGee was going to love seeing this scumbag walk straight back to prison. Or get shot by Gibbs. Whatever came first.

Just so long as they got some justice for Tony's near-murder.

No-one messed with one of theirs and got away with it.

"Are you ready to go, McGee?" Ziva's voice cut through the fog.

Glancing up, McGee nodded.

"Yeah." Throwing another glare at the mug-shot on the computer he added, "I'm ready."

* * *

Tim's head jerked back as Ziva screeched to a halt on the opposite side of the street from their address.

He really shouldn't have let her drive.

He heard, rather than saw Ziva open and close her door as he attempted to keep control on his lunch.

Shaking his head, he followed, using the door to steady himself a moment before shutting it.

"Are you sure this is it?" Ziva asked from her place on the other side of the car.

Glancing up McGee took in the house's appearance. It certainly didn't look like a former drug dealers home. What with it's casual white color that coated the two story family home. Nor the garden off to the side that had been grown up with weeds sometime ago. Or the silver coated, wire fence and gate that led onto a stone path and up to a welcome mat.

"I'm sure." He assured, "Papers said he inherited it from his aunt. She passed away a few months back."

Nodding, Ziva stalked up to the gate, McGee at her heels, and lifted the chain on the gate, allowing them both access.

"Should we knock?" She asked, as they picked their way up the path over the overgrown grass.

"Are you kidding? You want to give him time to run?" he asked incredulosly, "Ziva, did you even see the guy? He looks like the Hulk."

Ziva laughed, "The Hulk? You sound like Tony."

McGee grinned lightly.

"And besides McGee. I did not say we would give him warning." she answered simply, but her voice held a mischievous hint.

"Ah. You're 'Knock, they open the door, and then we shoot' plan." He commented dryly. Actually, not a bad idea...

"I do not see why it would not work." she answered jokingly, "It would make things _much _easier."

Tim snorted his amusement as they made their way up the set of steps that led to the porch that covered the better part of the front of the building.

They quietly reached for their weapons, pulling them out of their holsters, as they took their posts on either side of the small-windowed door.

Glancing in the window, McGee could see their target. He was sitting in a chair in the small living room off to the left, back to the door, the TV blaring out the noise of their footsteps across the porch.

Looking back over at Ziva, he held a finger to his lips and then motioned to the door.

The former Mossad Officer nodded in understanding.

Using his fingers, McGee counted down. Three...Two...One...

"NCIS, Federal Agents!"

Slamming his foot into the door, it busted back and they rushed in, guns at the ready.

Kopek was already on his feet. He barely threw a glance in their direction before bolting for the back.

"Ziva!" Tim yelled.

"I am on him, McGee!" she yelled back, backtracking out the front door.

"It!" he couldn't help yelling to her as he raced into the kitchen after Kopek, "You're on _it_!"

Tearing through the kitchen, side-stepping a tipped over trash can and jumping over a toppled chair in the process, McGee made it to the back yard. Pausing only for a second to see if he could spot their suspect, he was startled by a pained cry on the other side of the house.

Rounding the corner, McGee stopped short.

Kopek was on the ground, face-first in the dirt, Ziva holding his hands behind his back and keeping him pressed to the ground. With possibly a little more force than necessary.

Ziva looked up, a pleased and slightly smug smile tugging at her lips.

With a raised eyebrow, McGee holstered his weapon, pulled out his cuffs and slapped them on the man.

As he jerked the man to his feet Kopek started to complain.

"What's you're problem? I ain't done nothin'! Mindin' my own business and you break down my door!"

"Just shut up." Tim snarled, shoving the man forward.

Ziva's smirk turned into one of amusement and slight surprise at him.

Raising his eyebrow at her in challenge to her expression, he shoved the man forward again as he faltered in his steps towards the car.

He saw her shake her, amusement winning out over her surprise.

McGee glared as he heard the man grumble under his breath about the 'stupid cops' and the 'crazy assassin chick'.

"What's your problem?" he snapped angrily, "You're lucky she didn't break both you're legs."

"I didn't do anything!" Kopek snapped back, "I don't know what you _think _I did or what you're trying to pin on me, but I didn't do nothin'."

Jerking on the cuffs, McGee brought him to a halt and spun him around so they were facing each other.

"Yeah?" he asked darkly, "Tell that to Tony DiNozzo." he snarled at him. This guy was seriously starting to tick him off.

Kopeck's eyes darkened dangerously, "Whatever I did to that little punk was well deserved."

McGee clenched his jaw tight, hand curling into a fist. To his right he could see Ziva, her hand itching towards her gun.

Taking a deep breath through his nose, McGee tamped down on his temper. Turning the man back around, he shoved him back towards the car as Ziva opened the back door for him.

"Ow!" Kopek growled as his skull _accidentally_ knocked against the top of the door as McGee pushed him.

"Sorry 'bout that." McGee apologized sarcastically.

He only received an evil glare in return.

Snatching the keys and tossing them to Ziva, McGee got in the passenger seat.

It'd be worth it, he decided, to get whiplash just to let Kopek get tossed around like a rag-doll in the back seat.

"You are going to call, Gibbs, yes?" Ziva asked as she jerked the car out off onto the main road, eliciting a grunt from their suspect as he was slammed into the seat.

"Yeah. Just as soon as we get back." McGee agreed as he grappled quickly for the dashboard to give himself something steady to hold on to, "I think he might wanna handle this interrogation himself." he said, glancing in the review mirror only to be met with another glare.

As Ziva passed a few cars, barely managing to pull them back into the right lane before they were swiped by an oncoming eighteen wheeler, McGee swallowed thickly, snapping his eyes shut. Opening his irises again, he glanced to the back seat.

Kopek had at some point been all but tossed to the floor, and was now looking a rather sickly shade of green, his color only deepening as another car horn blared and he was tossed against the door.

Yup, McGee thought, letting Ziva drive had definitely been worth it.

* * *

Gibbs shook his head. How DiNozzo had convinced him to sit down and watch this show with him he had no idea... Okay, so that might be a bit of a lie, he knew exactly how it happened. He always let DiNozzo slide when he had been sick, kidnapped, or had taken a knock with death that came a little too close for comfort. He knew he did it. DiNozzo knew he did it, and used it sometimes to get the former gunny to watch some movie or something of the like.

He rolled his eyes with a smirk as DiNozzo laughed at the antics of the characters on the screen. Personally he didn't see the appeal in the show... But the fact that the main character used to be a sniper was interesting though. And that ME sure looked familiar...

His eyes jumped from the screen to the nightstand as his phone started to buzz and vibrate.

Snatching it up, he looked at the ID.

"McGee?" Tony asked, glancing over.

"Yeah. Looks like he has somethin'." he stood, "Be back in a few, DiNozzo." he said.

Tony nodded before turning back to the TV.

Gibbs slipped out into the hall and glanced around. He wasn't about to go more than ten feet from DiNozzo's room. Not until they had his would-be-killer behind bars where there would be no more chance for damage. But he knew if one of the nurses saw him with a working cell-phone, there would be problems. And while he'd never lost an argument with the nursing staff before, he really wasn't in the mood for another fight today.

Scanning the hall with careful eyes, he saw only two people. An elder woman, walking down the opposite end of the hall; obviously a patient if the blue gown she was wearing was any indication, so no threat there. And a few feet away at the nursing station a man stood, dressed in a white lab coat. The metal name tag proving him to be a doctor.

Apparently sensing someone's eyes on him, the doctor looked up and over at Gibbs. Noting the phone in the agent's hand, the man simply nodded and gave him a knowing smile before turning back to his clipboard.

Smirking, Gibbs flipped open his phone.

"What do ya' got, McGee?"

"Kopek." Was McGee's simple answer. "He's waiting in interrogation as we speak, Boss."

Gibbs smirked. Finally they might get some answers.

"Alright, I'll be right there. And McGee, I'll need you to send a-"

"Guard to keep an eye on Tony? Already on his way, Boss. Should be there any minute."

This time Gibbs couldn't help the smile.

"Good job, McGee." He praised.

"Thanks, Boss." He could hear the smile in his agents tone.

Still smiling, Gibbs snapped the phone shut, adding queitly, "Good job."

* * *

It only took the guard another ten minutes to make his way through the hospitals door, which gave Gibbs plenty of time to fill DiNozzo in.

Of course, he'd objected to the guard, insisting that he didn't need some to babysit, but after a head-slap or two from Gibbs, he'd given in.

"Don't worry, Boss." The younger of the two assured with a wide grin, "I'll eat my greens and take my naps like a good little agent."

"DiNozzo..." Gibbs paused before shaking his head in a fond exasperation, "Behave." he ordered simply, patting Tony's knee and rising to head for the door.

"Don't I always?" Tony yelled after him.

The only response he received was a sarcastic snort of amusement and the click of the door as Gibbs shut it.

The uniformed, dark haired guard stepped aside as Gibbs exited, nodding his head at the agent in acknowledgment.

"Special Agent Gibbs." The former Marine introduced himself, extending his hand.

"William Fairfield." The man supplied, shaking the agents hand with a smile.

"You keep a good eye on him." Gibbs ordered. "He's a magnet for trouble." he added in a dry tone.

The man chuckled. "Don't worry, Agent Gibbs. I'll keep an eye on him, he's safe."

"Mmmm." Gibbs agreed, "Just make sure he stays that way." Gibbs stressed, sidestepping the guard as he made his way down the hall. "And if somethin' happens, if I were you, I'd run." He added in warning before turning the corner and disappearing out of the other man's sight.

Fairfield swallowed thickly and stepped back into his position beside the door.

Something told him it wouldn't be a good idea to let anything happen to the agent on the other side of the door.

If he did, Agent Gibbs just may just kill him.

* * *

**Hope this was alright. I pretty much wrote it all in one sitting, so if it turned out crappy, I appologize. Please let me know what you thought though. I would love to know what you think.**

**Also, bit of triva, the show, as I mentioned, is Bones. And the ME Gibbs talks about being familiar, is called Cam on Bones. The actress who plays her, also played Agent Cassie Yates on NCIS. :) **


	7. Chapter 6

**Well, how do you like that. I got the chapter up quicker than the last and I think it's the longest one I've written for this story to date. Is that spectacular? :D Hehe.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own it. It belongs to CBS.**

* * *

_Bang!_

As the door connected with the wall sounded like gunfire. The force behind it surprisingly not quite enough to break it from its hinges. Especially considering the force was one very angry and irate Marine.

A smile tugged at said Marine's face as he got the satisfaction of taking his target off surprise.

Gibbs stalked forward, never taking his eyes from the man on the opposite side of the table. Even as he slapped the folder down and jerked out his chair and took a seat, his gaze never wavered.

He could tell his glare was starting to irritate the other man. Good.

It wasn't unnerving him like it wold most. But then the man before him was a rather hardened criminal. He didn't scare easy, if at all.

At least, that was before Gibbs got to him.

After a good twenty minutes of solid, stoic staring, his opponent had enough.

"Alright, what's your problem?" he snapped.

Gibbs stayed silent, unmoving.

"What am I doing here?" He growled, frustration coloring every note in his voice.

"Tony DiNozzo." Gibbs stated simply, voice monotone.

Kopek narrowed his eyes.

"You too?" He snarled, "What about _DiNozzo_?" He asked, somehow managing to make Tony's name sound more like an insult.

Gibbs stared back, keeping quiet. The only change in his appearance was the slight darkening off his eyes and the tighter clench of his jaw, unnoticeable to most everyone.

"Look," Kopek snapped, "I already told that other suit, whatever I did to that little punk, was more than well deserved."

Gibbs fists clenched tightly, his fingernails cutting into his palms painfully.

"So, you admit it then?" He asked, his voice forced casual.

"Admit what?" Kopek asked, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"That you attacked Agent DiNozzo."

"_Agent _DiNozzo?" the other man asked, disgusted, "You've got to be kidding me."

Gibbs' eyes narrowed at the comment, but he said nothing. He didn't want to throw the man off track.

"Do. You. Admit. It?" Gibbs asked, the calm tone much more difficulty forced.

"If you're asking I beat the crap out of him, then yes, I did." Kopek answered, his dark eyes boring into Gibbs' piercing ones, "And I'd do it again. He got what he deserved."

"Over a month in ICU, that what he deserved?" Gibbs asked, unable to keep the malice out of his voice.

"No." Kopek answered. "Deserved worse." the man grumbled angrily, almost to himself.

"Like, getting killed, maybe?" Gibbs pushed.

"Exactly." Kopek agreed darkly.

Gibbs glared. He wanted nothing more than to reach across the table and strangle the man. Might be better to wait until the cameras weren't filming though...

"So, you'll sign a confession admitting to the attempted murder of Agent DiNozzo?" he asked, hoping to shake the man.

"Hey, I was only charged with aggravated assault, never attempted murder. I served my time for that." Kopek stated stubbornly, crossing his arms defiantly in front of his chest.

"I'm not talking about you so-called _assault_," Gibbs snarled. Assult? That's what he'd been charged with. He'd near killed DiNozzo. Would have if someone hadn't phoned for help. He had sent DiNozzo into the ICU for over a month with the possibility of brain damage and he got off with assault. He really needed to make a phone call to Phillie PD once he was done interrogating this idiot.

"Then what are you talking about?" Kopek asked, his eyes narrowing into slits.

"I'm talking about last night. Someone tried to kill Agent DiNozzo. Was it you?"

Kopek simply stared for a moment. A dead, cold stare off-setting.

Finally, Kopek leaned forward, placed his arms on the table, and looked Gibbs straight in the face and answered with an air of confidence and a smug smile that ticked Gibbs off to no end.

"Wasn't me." He assured. "But," he added, "If you find out who did it, I would love to know. Would be nice to shake they're hand." He said steadily.

Gibbs clenched his jaw wouldn't do to kill the man just yet. A good punch or two wouldn't hurt though, would it?

"Look, don't believe me, that's fine." the other man said, the same irritating cocky confidence in his voice, "Just call my parole officer. I was on the phone with him last night. Discussing options to get off my parole setence sooner." The man said, cocking an eyebrow at Gibbs in challenge.

Gibbs cocked his head, not giving into the goading.

Their staring contest lasted a few moments before Gibbs smirked.

Standing, he pushed his chair back in and turned to walk away from Kopek, in the direction.

He gave a subtle nod, knowing McGee would be watching and understand his command.

Gibbs stopped, turned again, and leaned against the mirror, facing Kopek once again.

The confusion and slight wariness on the man's face as he watched him was satisfactory.

"You really don't like DiNozzo, do you?" he asked, tilting his head slightly.

"No," Kopek growled angrily, "I _really_ don't." He stressed.

"Why is that?" Gibbs queried.

"Because that little moron double crossed me! He was supposed to be my pusher and instead he turned out to be a filthy cop!" Kopek snapped.

"Mmmm," Gibbs commented lightly, "See, I don't think that's it."

Kopek tipped his head to one side, regarding Gibbs carefully as the Marine pushed himself off the wall and slowly sauntered in his direction.

"No, I think your problem was that he out-smarted you. He played you for the fool. Made you believe he was something he wasn't. Made you think he was on your side. You trusted him. And then surprise! Marino turns into DiNozzo and you're left looking like a moron." Gibbs spoke calmly, now standing over Kopek.

"No, that's not it!" the dealer snapped, pushing himself to his feet, shoving his face into Gibbs', "That-"

Gibbs grabbed his arm, twisting it painfully behind the man, and shoved him, face-first, into the metal table.

Leaning in close, Gibbs spoke so only the other man could hear.

"I don't know if you tried to kill DiNozzo or not. But either way, you are _never_ getting near him again. You even think about it, and I will hunt you down and _shoot_ you." He growled dangerously.

Giving the man's arm another painful twist, causing said man to groan, Gibbs released him, allowing him to collapse into a heap on the floor.

Casting the man a disgusted glare, Gibbs stalked out of the room, making sure to slam the door behind him.

Leaning against the door, Gibbs pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a sigh.

This was not helping at all. He hadn't exactly expected the man to come right out and confess, but he had expected a bit more to go on than a possible alibi.  
Gibbs was used to people like dealer who was sitting in the room on the opposite side of the door. They were cocky. Over confident. Sure enough of themselves to think they couldn't be caught. And people like that usually slipped up. They couldn't help themselves but to a brag about their crime. It was almost always subtle, but you could catch it if you were paying attention.

But Kopek had given him nothing. Which either meant Kopek wasn't their attempted murderer or Gibbs was losing his touch. Neither option was one Gibbs even wanted to consider at the moment.

"Boss!"

The Senior Agent snapped to attention at the sound of McGee's yell, pulling himself away from the door and standing up straight.

He looked up just in time to see the younger man hurry around the corner, piece of paper in hand. Spotting his boss, he hurried over.

"McGee, you-?"

"Call his parole officer? Yeah, boss." Gibbs could tell by the grim set of the other man's face he wasn't going to like the answer, "He was telling the truth. His parole officer, uh," McGee glanced at the paper, "Jordan Smith collaborated his alibi. I ran his records anyway just to be sure and Kopek was on the phone from 9:30 until 10:14. He's not our guy, Boss." McGee said, his lips pursed in frustration and anger.

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from saying anything. Great. So now we had two people to add to the list of persons who would be more than happy to kill DiNozzo. We had one in custody and the other was still out there somewhere, probably planning his next move. Just great.

"Gibbs." Ziva's voice carried from the opposite end of the hall.

Now what?

She hurried down the hall, her footsteps echoing quietly, until she came to halt next to them.

"I sent Keller's team to Tony's apartment," she hurried to explain, " And Abby tested Tony's things for traces of Oxycontin."

"And?" Gibbs and McGee asked in unison.

"And she found traces in the pizza. But you said Tony went straight to his apartment after picking it up. He did not meet or speak to anyone else. No-one would have had the chance to sneak it in his food, unless-"

"Unless they handled it before he did." McGee added.

Ziva nodded in affirmation. "Yes. It had to be someone at the pizza parlor."

"Which is?" Gibbs asked quickly, impatiently.

"Moretti's." Ziva supplied, holding up an evidence bag with a receipt with said name embroidered across the top.

"Good job. Both of you." Jethro praised, "McGee you help Abby finish running Tony's things. I want everything, dusted, ran, and processed. Ziva you look through the list of names Abby pulled. You run the ones that don't have records. I don't want any loose ends." he added as he hurried down the hall.

He was met with a chorus of "Yes, Boss" as he turned the corner and punched the down button on the elevator.

Only a case involving DiNozzo would send them to a pizza place for a lead.

* * *

The bell jingled overhead as Gibbs opened the door and stepped through.

"Welcome, Signore. How can help you?" The jovial man tending the counter asked.

"You the owner?" Gibbs asked.

"Si, Signore."

Pulling his badge from his pocket, Gibbs flipped it open, giving the man a clear view of his ID, "Agent Gibbs, NCIS." Gibbs answered, "I need to ask you a few questions."

The younger man blinked, "Successone." The man muttered under his breath before he cleared his throat and looking up from the badge to meet Gibbs eyes, "Si, Signore, anything I can do to help."

"Where were you last night at 9:10?" he asked, pulling out a pad a pen.

"Ah..." the man paused briefly, recalling the time, "I was at the hospital." he answered, looking at Gibbs again.

"The hospital?" Jethro asked, blinking in surprise.

"Si." Moretti confirmed, nodding, "My sister, Amadora, she was in an accident. I left quickly and went to see her. I did not come back until after midnight. I went back to the hospital after I locked up."

"And you stayed there all night?" Gibbs asked.

"Signore," Moretti said, his eyes boring into Gibbs, "Amadora, she is my baby sister. I could not leave her."

Gibbs nodded. "Do you have anyone who can prove that?"

The man nodded in affirmation, "I was with Amadora almost all night. When I was not, I was in the waiting room, speaking to the doctors or nurses."

"Did you leave someone else in charge?" Gibbs asked.

"Si. Signore Bray."

Gibbs rose his eyebrows in question.

"He started working for me two weeks ago. Good man. When I told him about Amadora he insisted I go. When I got back, everything was clean, put away. He even sold a few more pizzas."

"Do you have a record of who he sold to?" Gibbs asked, flipping his notepad shut.

"Si, I keep a record of every sale." he answered, opening the register even as he spoke and lifted the money tray to hand Gibbs a ledger.

Following the list of names, Gibbs found DiNozzos'. Following it over, just as suspected, he found the same cashiers name. Alden Bray.

"I don't suppose is in today?" Gibbs asked, handing the ledger back.

"No. I gave him the day off. I am closing early to go visit my sister and Mr. Bray deserved a day of rest after working so hard yesterday."

_'I bet.'_ Gibbs thought dryly. "Do you keep a record of employees?" he asked.

"Of course." Moretti answered, "One moment, Signore." He ducked behind the dark curtain on the back wall, returning minutes later to hand Gibbs a small folder.

Flipping it over, Gibbs scanned the information.

Name: Alden Bray.

Age: 34

Address: 113 Bridge Street, Georgetown, DC.

Somehow Gibbs doubted any of the information was credible, but there was still the chance it could be useful.

"I'm going to need to take this." Gibbs warned and Moretti nodded quickly.

Flipping the page over, Gibbs glanced at the photo and froze.

He blinked, his face blanching. He knew that face. He'd seen it before. And recently. Flashing back over the past few days, Gibbs tried to find a match.  
And he did.

The revelation hit him like a ton of bricks.

The doctor at the hospital. The one who had been kind enough to look the other way to let him use his cellphone.

Tony's near killer had been less than fifty feet from his face, the man had looked right at him and smiled, and he hadn't even known.

Leaving the shop owner staring in shock, he tore out of the room, on a dead set for his car.

That man was still at the hospital. With Tony. Right outside his room.

He only hoped the guard would be smart enough to check the man's credentials and refuse him entrance.

But the churning in Gibbs' gut told him something different. Something bad was going to happen, he could just feel it.

* * *

"Dr. Anderson." The man introduced, lifting the ID clipped to his pocket up farther for the guard to see.

Giving the piece of plastic the once over a few times, Fairfield deemed in clear before smiling at the man and stepping aside to allow him entrance.

Nodding appreciatively, Anderson opened the room's door, stepped inside quietly and shut the door behind him with an almost inaudible click.

As his eyes landed on the sleeping agent on the other side of the room, he smiled.

This was going to be too easy.

Sliding over silently, he slipped the syringe out of his lab coat pocket and carefully inserted it into the IV line.

He'd nearly managed to inject the medication before a hand snaked out and grasped one of his wrists.  
"What're you doing?" Tony asked, eying the man carefully. He'd woken up as soon as the man entered the room and he didn't like the way the man was acting. Something felt off. And despite the fact that he didn't have medical degree himself, something that both Ducky and Gibbs insistently reminded him, he was pretty sure you didn't inject more drugs into someones system after they had nearly been killed by a drug overdose. He didn't need Ducky to tell him that one.

The man smiled a feral smile, using his still free hand to pump the last of the medication into the line, unnoticed by the patient in the bed.

"I'm just doing my job, Mr. DiNozzo." he greeted, distaste on his tongue as he said the man's name.

Tony's eyes narrowed. He'd seen the man somewhere before. He couldn't place it yet, but he knew that face. He knew he'd seen him before, but where? He knew it was somewhere in the back of his mind. He never forgot a face. But the more he tried to concentrate, the harder it became to stay focused.

Keeping the man's wrist in a firm grasp, Tony reached for the call button...Wait, why was there two? Shaking his head, Tony looked again. Now three? What the...? Reaching blindly, he made a grab for it, or them, only to come up with thin air as the object disappeared right before his eyes.

Looking back at the other man Tony could see the disconnected call button in his hands...Or both of them? Why was there two of them now too? This wasn't good.

"Now, really, Mr. DiNozzo, there is no need for assistance. I assure you I can handle things." the man spoke in a well-played professional voice, but there was no hiding the sadistic glee the tone held from the thought of his plan working so effectively.

"You twisted-" he stopped suddenly as the dizziness hit, overtaking his senses.

"Now, now, Mr. DiNozzo, there's no need to be rude, is there?" the man asked, grinning that same disturbing smirk, as he reached over to unhook the cannula from its machine.

Tony tried to yell. Tried to talk. Scream even. Anything to make his voice heard to the guard outside but his vocal cords seemed to be failing him.

Lashing out, Tony grabbed both of the man's arms, trying to fight him off, to stall for time, but his strength now, too, was starting to seep away from him.  
It only took moments of silent struggle for the pseudo doctor to able to relinquish the hold DiNozzo had on one of his arms, gaining the upper hand. Quickly, the man snatched up the discarded velcro restraint that hung loosely from the side of the bed, fastening it back in place of Tony's wrist.

Tony struggled harder, but it was useless and they both knew it.

As Tony's head started to spin and his vision started to blur, it was all to easy for the other man to shake himself free of Tony's hold and snap the other restraint over the agent's right wrist.

"You must calm down, Mr. DiNozzo." he spoke in the same sadistic tone. "I know you must be discomforted, but really its for your own good," he added as he moved to restrain Tony's feet, leaving all chances for escape for the agent useless, "We wouldn't want you hurting yourself, now would we?" he asked, grinning like a cheshire cat.

Tony glared at the man as best he could, knowing that any attemps to fight back now would just be a waste of energy, and that was something he really couldn't affoard to loes anymore of.

The man simply stood and watched as the last of drugs took affect, causing the agent to lose consciousness before his eyes.  
With a sadistic smirk, the man over, snatching the transfer bed that had been left in the room by one of the nurses for easy accsess in preparation of an emergency, and rolled it over to the bed.

Unsnapping the restraints just as quickly as he had put them on and unhooking the cannula, he started to heft the agent onto the bed with slight difficulty, the dead weight causing a bit of a problem.

Determination, however, giving him enough strength to haul the other man onto the other bed, prop his head against the pillow, and cover him with a blanket. Most anyone would assume that the hospitalized man was simply sleeping due to his appearance. Which was exactly what he was counting on.

The guard's eyes raised in response as the doctor he had left in only moments before, wheeled the agent from the room.

"I hope you don't mind taking a bit of a walk." the man said kindly, "I need to take Mr. DiNozzo for an MIR."

"Of course not." Fairfield replied, following the man down the hall.

Glancing a few times at DiNozzo, he couldn't help but ask. "Is he okay?"

"Oh, he's just sleeping." the other man assured, "The poor man's exhausted. One of the side affects of the drugs, I'm afraid." Yeah right.

Satisfied, the guard nodded.

Reaching the large, windowed, double doors at the end of the hall, the man stopped the gurney and turned to his traveling companion.

"I'm afraid you'll have to wait out here. It's medical personnel only and as much as I wouldn't mind your company, some of the other doctors tend to get rather testy about rule breaking." he said, giving him his best, most convincing smile.

"Well..." the guard paused, looking down at the agent.

"Don't worry." the man assured quickly, "No one could have gotten in back there that isn't personnel or patient without someone knowing about. He''ll be perfectly safe."

"Still, I'd better go with you. If Agent Gibbs found out that I let him out of my sight, he'd kill me for sure and honestly I'm way more afraid of him than the doctors."

With a fake laugh, the man agreed "Of course." his mind running a mile a minute to come up with a back-up plan. "Personally, I don't foresee a problem. However, I must ask you remain outside the initial MRI room.

"Sure, no problem." Fairfield agreed with a nod as he pushed open the double doors for the other man. "Don't see how anyone could possibly get to him in there anyway."

The man chuckled, "Nor do I."

Wheeling the bed down to the last door on the right, the guard pushed it open, allowing the man access, before shutting it behind the man and taking post.

The man sighed in relief as the door shut, glad to finally be rid of his problem, and turned to search the room. There on the opposite side, just as he knew there would be, was a single door. Said door led to an office, which in turn led into another hall, and that led to his his escape. The entry doors for the ambulances.

Wheeling the unconscious agent with ease into the adjoining rooms, the mysterious man had no trouble reaching his destination.

Pushing the double doors open, he directed the agent down the ramp and up into the ambulance. Glancing around a few times warily, the man hurriedly shut the doors with a quiet bang and jogged round to the front to climb in the driver's side door.

Smiling to himself slightly as he twisted the key and the engine quietly revved, he pulled out onto the busy street, no one the wiser to the fact of what had just happened or that Special Agent Tony DiNozzo's life was in danger for a second time.

It really had been too easy.

* * *

**So, what do ya' think? I nearly left you with a really big cliffy, but I decided to be nice and leave it was a slightly smaller one. I really didn't want anyone hating me, lol.  
Also:**

**1. I know Gibbs did not address the fact that they found Kopek's print on the bottle of Oxycontin, but rest assured, that will be coming up in a later chapter. Maybe even the next one. I assure you, for the story t continue as planned, it was necessary.**

**2. I don't know if hospitals are set up like that, I doubt they are. But personally, I have never spent too much time in a hospital, and what time I have is kinda sketchy so I'm just making it up as I go and as it'll fit the story.**

**That being said, please review! :)**


	8. Chapter 7

****

Sorry everyone, this chapter took longer than intended. No excues. I just kinda got sidetracked. I started learning guitar which I've been having a blast doing. And second, I've been watching this AWESOME new show called Supernatural with my friend and I have now become addicted to it almost as badly as I am to NCIS, lol.

**Anyway, hope you all enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer - I don't own any of this.**

* * *

It felt like eternity to Gibbs, taking the drive from the pizza parlor back to the hospital. In reality, he realized, it had been less than half an hour, but at this point any time was too long.

Several people quickly sidestepped out of his way as he sprinted down the seemingly endless hallways to Tony's room.

His gut clenched painfully and ice ran through his veins when he spotted the door, the guard already having disappeared.

Feeling the need to check anyway, he threw the door open.

Empty. Too late.

Shutting it closed again he glanced around quickly, debating his next move, he caught sight of the nurses station.

Hurrying over he caught the youngest of the two nurses' attention.

"Where's Agent DiNozzo?" He asked hurriedly; he had no time for niceties.

"Um...Who?" she queired, slightly taken aback by his manner.

"Agent DiNozzo!" Jethro snarled angrily, getting impatient. He didn't have time for this. "That was his room, right over there" he snapped, gesturing to the door in question, "He's not in it! So where is he?"

"I-I don't know." she stuttered, litterly taking a step back from the man as his eyes darkened.

"Janet," another voice intervened and Gibbs looked over to see a dark-haired nurse turn from her station to face them, "wasn't Agent DiNozzo the patient with brown hair, about six-one? The one they brought in last night?"

"Yes." Gibbs answered quickly not giving Janet a chance to speak.

"I saw him." she said, nodding to herself.

"Where?" he asked quickly, hopefully.

"One of the doctors, um, well, I don't know his name, he went into Agent DiNozzo's room and then he wheeled him out and he and that guard started heading down the hall. I think I heard him say he was going to take him for an MRI." she explained, gesturing aimlessly towards the set of doors.

Gibbs' eyes followed her gesture, catching sight of the double doors. Not even bothering to so much as glance as the two women, he took off after his new target.

"Oh! Uh-Sir! Sir, you can't go in there!" the dark-haired nurse yelled after him, "You can't go in there! Its for hospital staff only! Sir!"

The yells, however, did nothing to stop to stop him. So intent was he on his mission, he didn't even hear them as he crashed through the double doors.

Fairfield's head snapped in the direction of the noise, hand immediately moving towards his gun.

"Agent Gibbs?" he asked, quickly recognizing the agent.

He hurried forward quickly, "What are you-?"

"Where is he?" Gibbs snapped, his voice clipped and sharp.

Fairfield blinked. "Who?" he asked confused. Surely he didn't mean DiNozzo; the nurses would have told him the agent had been scheduled tests.

"DiNozzo!" he snarled hastily, barely resisting the urge to pull his gun and threaten to shoot the man.

"The doctor took him for an MRI."

"Which room?" Gibbs asked quickly, already hurrying past the man.

Fairfield shook his head, turning to try and follow the agent, "What?" he asked, not sure he had heard right, "Agent Gibbs, why-"

"_Which Room_?"

Fairfield came to quick stop as Gibbs spun to face him, murder in the man's eyes.

"Down the hall, last one on the right!" he answered quickly, a note of hysteria in his voice. Vengeful ex-cons with guns he could handle. A former marine with a protective streak to rival ten men _and_ a gun, that was a different story.

Gibbs broke into a full sprint down the hall and threw the door open. Empty. Glancing around quickly, he spotted another door and made his way through it into the hall.

Glancing around he spotted several doors. Knowing their yet un-named suspect wouldn't waste anytime trying to hide, he hurried down the hall, intent on checking the doors on his way back through.

He knew, however, it wouldn't be necessary when he reached the end of the hall. As he spotted the red-lit exit sign, he knew it was hopeless.

Tony was gone.

* * *

Ducky's eyes followed the irate Marine as he paced from one end room to the other.

His stalk was sharp and tense. Taking course from the sinks to across the room, ending at the x-ray lights, before turning and starting again.

He had been pacing for quite a while. A least long enough for Ducky to be thankful that the floors were made of something sturdy and did not wear easily.

Ducky knew, however, that his friend had more of a purpose for the visit other than to calm his nerves with the constant motions of the stride and to clear his head with the quiet.

This is where Jethro always turned up when he was particularly frustrated. Always for advice or assurance, sometimes a push in the right direction.

Of which he was always happy to provide. Just sometimes, particularly in situations such as this, he wished he had better words to calm the other man's worries.

"You will find him Jethro." he finally spoke, cutting into the heavy silence.

"_Before_ it's too late, Ducky?" Gibbs asked, never taking his eyes from the floor as he paced.

"You always do." he reminded.

That single statement, for whatever reason, caused the senior agent to come to an abrupt halt, stopping to stare and the older ME.

The look on Jethro's face was not one Dr. Mallard was all that used to seeing and not one he had been expecting. Anguish.

Looking deeper, as one always had to do with Jethro, there was more. Fear. Desperation. Confusion. Things one would never usually see on the face of Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

Pursing his lips, Ducky waited for Gibbs to speak first.

At least now he had an idea of the problem. Jethro was worried. Obviously. But not just about Tony. About his abilities to judge. Ever since realizing it, Gibbs had been beating himself up for his misjudgment at the hospital. Sure that he should have known there was more to meet the eye with the doctor.

How he could have possibly known having not even talked to the man, Ducky wasn't sure. But this was Jethro they were talking about and he always berated himself for what he considered slip-ups even when in actualitly, there was nothing that could have been done.

What was worse, however, was that that was the not even the worst of Jethro's worries. No, his worries centered, as always, on his missing agent. And the fact that he wasn't sure of his judgment right now.

"And if this times' different, Duck?" he finally asked, his voice quiet.

"What makes you think it will be?" he asked.

The former Gunny gave him an unreadable stare for a moment before silently going back to his pacing.

"Jethro," Ducky interrtupted, "that boy has gone missing... Well, more times than one could count-"

"Nine times." Gibbs supplied.

Raising his eyebrows, the older gentlemen stared at his friend. Gibbs simply shrugged.

"Yes, well, the point is, he has been missing multiple times, and every time you and your exceptional team have managed to recover him one way or another."

"First time for everything, Duck."

Ducky managed to only catch a glimpse of the pain before it disappeared from Gibbs' eyes and he was stalking out the autopsy doors without another word.

Sighing tiredly the old Englishman pulled off his glasses as he spun his chair back around to face his desk. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose in an attempt to ward of the onsetting migraine.

The day had started out so well. A beautiful morning and plans to meet up with an old friend and play a few sets of golf out on the greens had made for a nearly perfect day. That was until, of course, he received that dreaded phone call from Timothy informing him of Anthony's condition.  
By the time he had driven across town and rode the lift to Abigale's for an update, the situation had only went down hill in the worst way.

After ten minutes, arms full of a completely heartbroken goth, was he able to make out her muffled, sob racked, ramblings.

Anthony had gone missing. Again.

Whatever vile person had tried to end the young man's life only a day before had once again got hold of the him and taken him without their knowledge.

Abigale had, obviously, been inconsolable, while Ziva and Timothy had been so intent on their paths of finding their friend, they had eyes for nothing else. A way that almost frighteningly reminded him of his closest friend. And Jethro... Well, he was still trying to decipher what on earth was going through his mind.

Leaning back, Dr. Mallard placed his spectacles back on the bridge of his nose, bringing the world back into view; his sight landing first on the photo balancing on the edge of his desk.

Picking it up with unneeded tenderness, he eyed it fondly.

It had been taken barely a month before. On Abigale's birthday as matter of fact.

Abby had puppy-dogged-faced everyone into coming with her on her trip to celebrate her birthday. They had all dreaded one of her ear-splitting, headache producing, death metal concerts.

However, they were all pleasantly surprised when she opted instead for a short hourly trip upstate to visit the lake for swimming and a picnic.

They had spent the better part of the day eating, laughing, and chatting away, happily enjoying the day. The younger of the crowd had even started up a few games of volleyball which Jethro had refereed and Ducky himself had spectated.

It had been one of the rare occasions were they were able to sit back and enjoy themselves without worry or fret about the latest case or murderer on the loose. Taking advantage of that they had enjoyed the day as much as possible, even letting their little vacation last into the early hours of night fall.

The photograph had been insisted by Abby; a memento, she called it, of their trip.

The group shot had been taken by a passerby that Abby had coerced into snapping the shot for them. She'd then made sure to make extra copies and had taken great care that every one received a copy.

Scanning the image, Ducky took in the laughter and happiness of the group. It was amazing how things could change so abruptly.

Everyone that day, Jethro included, had been sporting a bright grin. Yet now, smiling was the absolute last thing any of them felt like doing.

Catching a glimpse of a familiar pair of smiling green eyes, Ducky frowned deeply.

"Oh, Anthony," he sighed heavily, "Why must it always be you in these terrible situations?"

* * *

"Oh! Oh no! Agent Gibbs, I am _so _sorry, I didn't mean to- I mean, I didn't see-" the younger man rambled as he slowly backed a few feet away from the former Marine as he brushed away the droplets of freshly spilled coffee that had splashed onto the man's suit when they had collided.

"Palmer, what're you doin'?" Gibbs asked tiredly, casting a glance up at the younger man.

"I-I was getting Abby a caf-pow." he explained, recovering quickly as he pointed to the machines behind Gibbs.

Gibbs rose an eyebrow lightly. He was, to be honest, surprised to see how far Palmer had come since Ducky had hired him as his assistant. There had been a time when Gibbs couldn't have even looked at him without the man rambling a stuttered, unnecessary apology.

"Have you found anything to help find Tony yet?" The young ME trainee asked, his voice hopeful.

Gibbs gave him an unreadable look. "And you're sure we're actually going to find him?" he asked.

Palmer looked at him, surprise flitting across his face, obviously never having even considered that to be an option.

"Well..." he paused, "yeah." he added, quietly, "You guys always do... I mean, just because somebody made a mistake doesn't mean its hopeless. Everybody makes mistakes, right? It doesn't mean you're not gonna find him."

Gibbs brow creased and he tilted his head, considering Palmer's words.

He knew Palmer was referring to the guard, but the words hit true to him. Whether anyone else recognized it or not, he had made a mistake. A huge one. One that could cost them everything.

He should have stayed with Tony and let McGee or Ziva question Kopek. Should have had them send tighter security. And he definitely shouldn't have broken one of his own rules. Never assume. He had assumed Kopek was their guy and, despite the precaution of the guard, he had done next to nothing to keep Tony safe, wrongly assuming that they already had their man.

It was all a mistake, and a big one at that.

But maybe, hopefully, Palmer had a point.

It was a mistake, and it had cost them all, particularly Tony, allot. But, hopefully, it had not yet cost them everything.

And it wouldn't. Not if there was anything he could do about it.

With that thought firmly set in mind, Gibbs glanced back at Palmer who, by this point, was starting to nervously shift from foot to foot under Gibbs stare.

"Thank you, Palmer." He nodded once as he patted the man's shoulder, his lips curving into a light smile as he side-stepped the younger man and headed off for his new destination.

Jimmy stood stock-still, shocked into silence. Shaking himself lightly, he turned quickly to see Agent Gibbs stepping on to the elevator.

"Uh..." he stumbled a few seconds, "You're welcome!" he yelled after the agent, catching the man's ears just before the doors shut.

Turning back around, Jimmy simply stood still for a moment, trying to comprehend what had just happened. Agent Gibbs, thanking him? That was something new. And what had he even done? He couldn't remember anything for Agent Gibbs to be thankful of him for... Shaking his head, he decided to leave it be and just take it for what it was. A thank you...From Agent Gibbs of all people.

* * *

"Ziva, I need answers." Gibbs snapped as he passed around the corner.

He saw her glance at McGee who paused briefly in his typing to look at her. "I am afraid I do not have anything, Gibbs."

He spun to face her. "Nothing?"

She shook her head, "The information he gave was, obviously, fake. The address was an abandoned housing lot. His age and name he probably picked at random." she said, shrugging. "I have, however, been running the security footage and I found this." she added.

She picked up the remote, clicking one of the buttons at the plasma.

McGee looked up from his computer and Gibbs turned in the direction of the screen.

The gray and white image flickered before focusing on their suspect as he walked up to Fairfield and flashed his id.

Gibbs scowled at the screen but didn't bother saying anything.

The image flickered again, changing to a different setting. Tony's room.

"No audio." Ziva explained quietly, as Tony began to speak on the screen, "The hospital has not yet updated their equipment. The upgrades are supposed to be installed next week. Really, I think-" She stopped, casting her eyes away from the screen as the scene played out between Tony and their suspect. She had seen it once already and did not care to watch Tony's struggles a second time.

Gibbs' eyes darkened and his knuckles paled to an almost impossible shade of white as he clenched his fists.

McGee swallowed thickly, fighting the urge to be physically ill. He didn't even want to imagine what his friend had, and probably still was, going through.

Flickering, the scene changed again, following the man and an unconscious Tony into the hall where they joined Fairfield; then again, into the MRI room, to the hall, and finally to the exit doors before cutting off in a blur of black, gray, and white snow.

There was silence among the MCRT team for several long moments, only interrupted by the click of the remote as Ziva stopped the video.

"McGee?" Gibbs asked finally, his voice quiet.

Tim swallowed, "Uh...Sorry, Boss. I've been running his photo against every database I can think of. I haven't found him yet." He winced, ready for Gibbs to explode.

Gibbs nodded, silently.

"Keep working on it both of ya'." he ordered quietly before turning and walking away.

This had to end. Now. He had hurt his agent. Hurt Tony. And Probably still was. But it was going to stop.

Gibbs would make sure of that.

* * *

The first thing that registered in still drug-hazed brain was the soreness. His arms felt sore and stiff as if they had been in the same postion too long. He tried moving them, to put them down, but they wouldn't move. Squinting his eyes, he looked up. Just great. Handcuffed, of all things. He pulled again but the metal pole refused to budge.

Sighing, he closed his eyes. His brain felt foggy and numb. He clenched his eyes tight, hoping the pressure would clear his focus. It didn't. The only thing it did was help to make his headache stronger.

Taking a deep breath, he relaxed his muscles as well as he could, willing the aching of his head and back, and the soreness in his arms to be shoved to the back of his mind, or better yet just disappear all together.

After several moments he was able, at least, to ease his pains down to a dull ache and focus on more important things. Like opening his eyes for one thing.

Blinking several times and shaking his head lightly, he was able to pull things back into prospective and take a decent look at his surroundings.

The room was long, wide, and nearly empty, filled with nothing more than a stack of crates, and a stainless steel table that held a few items that were just out of his viewing range. The floor was made of nothing but concrete, which made it chilling even in these summer months; the walls were steel panels, each locked solidly into place with the other and all lined with with the same metal bar, all meeting up to a single, widened door at the other end off the room.

Something was familiar about this place.

Tony scrutinized the room.

He'd seen it before...maybe. It was so normal, so plain, that he couldn't be sure. But the tingling feeling in his gut told him otherwise.

The jingle of a key in a lock caused him to put the thoughts and gut feelings on hold and his head to snap in the direction of the sound.

He caught the briefest glimpse of a clear landscape beyond the doors, followed by nothing but trees as far as his sight traveled.

Great, just what he needed, to be out in the middle of no where.

The doors clanged shut again causing Tony to blink and look over at the man who had entered.

The pseudo doctor from before stood in front of him, lab coat now discarded, but he was still sporting the slacks and light blue shirt from before.

"Good afternoon." the man greeted him in an alarmingly cheerful voice. He smiled at the trapped agent before sauntering over towards the table that stood against the opposite wall.

He busied himself with it contents, making sure, Tony noted, to keep his back to him and to block Tony's view of what he was doing.

Whatever he was doing, it meant nothing good.

Finally the man turned around and gave him another eerie smile and suddenly Tony wished he would go back to what he had been doing at the table.

"Well, I do suppose introductions should be made" he said, stepping forward a few feet, "I already know your name of course," he said, waving his hand dismissively, "So I shall simply introduce myself. My name," he continued as he sauntered a few more feet in Tony's direction, "is Adam West. And I have just become your worst nightmare, Special Agent DiNozzo."

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**Well, what do you think? Good? Bad? Let me know please. :) **


	9. Chapter 8

**I'm not going to give excuses or apologies for this chapter being so late. What I will give you, however, is an explanation. I just recently moved, so, as you can imagine, I had no time to sit down and work on this chapter. But, now that things have calmed down slightly, updates should pick back up a bit.**

**Oh, and also, the name of our bad guy, Adam West, is also the name of an actor. My character and actor, however, have no connection. I simply didn't realize that I was using the same name. I just picked a first and last name at random, and thats what I came up with.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own it. Belongs to CBS.**

* * *

He jumped violently, leaning back in his seat as far as he could, trying to escape the man's wrath as he slammed his palms down on the table between them.

"Tell me, Kopek! Now!"

"I already told you; I didn't do nothin'!" He bravely (stupidly) stood his ground.

Gibbs narrowed his eyes dangerously, sending him a death glare.

Kopek squirmed slightly, but still refused to answer.

"Do you want to go back?" Gibbs asked suddenly, throwing the question out of no-where.

"For what?" Kopek glared.

He glared back at the man. "Interfering with a federal investigation. Attempted murder of a federal..."

"I told you! I didn't do it!" He snarled.

"Do you really think anyone is going to buy that? You're a known drug dealer! The medication that ended up nearly killing my agent belonged to you!" He growled dangerously, towering over Kopek.

Kopek shook his head.

"We found your print on the bottle! You hated Special Agent DiNozzo!" Gibbs leaned in quickly, whispering in deathly quiet voice, "Do you really think a jury is going to believe anything you say? You're done."

He pulled back, glaring at Kopek. He was done playing games.

Kopek stared back at him for a while before apprently coming to a decision; he shook his head, heaved a heavy sigh before looking back up to meet Gibbs' eyes again, "About a week ago," he started, "I came home and found him," he tapped the photo with a finger," in my house."

"He was in your house?" Gibbs asked incredulously.

"Yeah. He was coming down the hall when I opened the door. He saw me and ran." Kopek finished, shrugging.

"And that's it?" Gibbs asked skeptically.

"I chased after him. But he had a car down the street. He jumped in, took off, and I lost him." he shrugged again.

"What was he doing?" Gibbs pressed.

"I don't know!" Kopek exploded, tossing his hands in the air helplessly, "Look, I told you everything I know. He was the one in my house, arrest him!"

Gibbs raised an incredulous eyebrow, not even bothering to dignify the man with response.

The man growled, "I didn't do anything! It wasn't me. He was in my house. I don't know what he was doing because, _obviously_," he drawled, throwing in an exaggerated eye-roll for good measure, "I wasn't there!"

Still no response from the senior agent.

"Nothing was messed up," Kopek added. Anything to stop that evil glare. "Everything was just the way I left it. He didn't-" he paused, eyebrows scrunching together.

Gibbs cocked his head to the side, waiting.

The ex-con's eyes dropped down to his hands, contemplating, remembering.

"Actually..." he said, still staring down, "I think he did take somethin' of mine."

"What was it?" Gibbs asked, voice quiet, slightly menacing.

Kopek looked up at the voice and stared at the marine for a moment and when he answered it was almost tentative. "A bottle... Pain pills... Oxycontin."

Gibbs rose his brow. "Oxycontin?" Really, he didn't care. He already had what he needed to know. And it was highly unlikely that this man was involved. Men like Kopek didn't go from being leaders of drug gangs to small time accomplices.

"I know what you're thinkin'." Kopek groused, scowling now, "But it wasn't like that. They were prescribed to me."

"Mmmm." Gibbs mumbled sarcastically.

"They were." he growled. "Ask Dr. Fisher at the clinic. He gave 'em to me."

"So that's it?" Gibbs asked, "You're clean now? Didn't get the urge to... fall into old habits."

"No." Kopek snarled dangerously, "I didn't. Look, I got into a... disagreement during my last few months... May have gotten into a... scuffle. My shoulder was botherin' me and when I got out it was still buggin' me pretty bad so I went and got somethin' for it, went home, took them like the doc prescribed. That was it. I hadn't had 'em long. I'd only took a couple of them when that guy stole 'em." Kopek leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest, defiant.

Gibbs offered him a feral smirk; the one he often used on his suspects before going for the last final blow that would get them to confess their deepest secrets.

Kopek wavered slightly in his confidence, but continued staring back defiantly at Gibbs.

The contest lasted all of two minutes before Kopek looked away, unnerved by Gibbs' bright blue orbs staring piercingly back at him.

Smiling to himself in satisfaction, Gibbs rose, nodded at the technician crew to cut the video and walked away, leaving a very confused and unsettled drug dealer in his wake.

He strode past the bright orange halls and stainless steel doors, heading in the direction of what was unmistakably some of Abby's death metal music blaring at full volume.

Entering the lab, he headed in the direction of the stereo first, hitting the mute button first, before walking over to the energetic goth herself.

"Abs, I need an update."

"Bossman!" She twirled around to face him, pigtails swinging, "Have I got news for you!"

"Yeah, Abs, I know. What is it?"

"How do you-Right. You're Gibbs. You always know." She waved a dismissive hand.

"Abby." He sighed tiredly.

"Right. Sorry." She spun back to face the computer's screen, tapping a few keys as she went. "So, I ran the prints Agent Dunham brought back from Tony's hospital room and it seems like our kidnapper was a little sloppy."

"How so?" He leaned in, taking a closer look at the lines and charts on the screen, pretending that he could actually understand the gibberish.

"Gloves." Abby wiggled her fingers, "He forgot to wear gloves. Which, when you think about it, is kinda ironic after how careful he was with the first crime scene. Not a speck there."

"He was impatient, Abs. He didn't expect Tony to live the first time. He wanted to finish the job." He explained, "Did you get match?"

"But of course!" She exclaimed happily, tossing her hands in the air in gesture that clearly said: 'what else did you expect', "Our kidnapper is none other than Mr. Adam West." She picked up the remote, clicking a button and popping his image to the screen.

Gibbs surveyed the man. It was defintly the same one from the photo he had.

"How does he tie in with DiNozzo?"

"Well, I ran his name," Abby rapidly tapped a few more keys, "And found this." Another image popped up on the screen besides the first.

"Meet Daniel West. Brother of Adam West and former arms dealer. I ran his record and he was killed in Baltimore during a shoot-out."

"By DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, turning to look at the goth.

She nodded solemnly. "I think so. McGee's talking to Baltimore P. D. now."

Gibbs nodded, absently staring at the two images. The West brothers looked to be complete opposites. There wasn't one feature that showed their familial resemblance. One clean shaven, one rugged. One tall, at least 6. 3, the other only five foot and half. But still, DNA didn't lie; they were brothers. And Gibbs knew from experience how far one would go to take revenge for someone they loved.

"Boss!"

He spun, raising an eyebrow in question as McGee hurried through the door, almost on a dead run, his shoes skidding on the slick tiles. He slid to a halt in front of the senior agent, thrusting a sheaf of papers into his hands.

"It was the Harrison case." he puffed out in an exhausted breath, "A small ring of arms dealers that ran out of Baltimore. They caught one of the buyers and he confessed to who sold the weapons to break a deal." McGee rambled quickly, barely pausing to breathe, "Baltimore P. D. tracked them to an old, unused airport and tried to apprehend them, but they started fighting back. Apparently Daniel West," he jabbed a finger at the man's name and photo on one of the pages, "killed a Baltimore cop and tried to take down another, Tony's partner, when Tony shot him."

"Good, McGee. Real good." He nodded, "But we still need to find out where he took Tony."

"I think I know, Boss."

Gibbs head shot up at that new bit of information.

"I think West took him to the same place his brother was killed. The old aiport. It's still standing."

"Need directions, McGee." He thrust the papers back into his agent's hands.

"Already got 'em, Boss."

"Then grab Ziva. Lets hit the road! And you," he paused facing Abby, "Good job." He kissed her once on the cheek before following McGee towards the elevator.

"Gibbs!"

He turned, raising an inquisitive brow.

"Just... make sure you bring Tony home safe."

He paused once before nodding slowly. "Course I will, Abs. Ain't left him behind yet. We're not gonna start now."

* * *

Tony's eyes warily traced the man's movements.

He wasn't sure what was worse. West paying attention to him or ignoring him. At least when he was talking he had an idea of what to expect next.

He stiffened as West turned to face him, a sadistic grin lighting his features.

Suddenly he wished West would ignore him again.

"Do you remember, Agent DiNozzo," West took a few steps closer, folding his hands, "eleven years ago, there was a case. A very important case. Do you know of which case I mean?"

Tony swallowed. "Gonna need more details than that. See, my memory's kinda sketchy. Isn't what it used to be. Some people say old age. I say its because my boss keeps whacking me on the back of the head."

"This was a special case, Agent DiNozzo," West insisted, completely disregarding Tony's ramble, "A very special case. One involving an innocent victim."

DiNozzo gave him a hard stare. "Every case involves an innocent victim."

"True." West agreed, nodding, taking another step, "But there was something different about this case, Agent DiNozzo. Something different about this victim."

"Yeah?" Tony asked, cocking his head to the side in feigned interest, "Why is that?"

The man gave him a malicious look, "Because, Agent DiNozzo, you were the killer. You killed that innocent victim."

Tony blinked once, keeping his face impassive, his stare blank. West was watching his face anxiously for a reaction, waiting, his smile eerie; and he wasn't going to give him one. Wasn't going to show him how his little bombshell had shocked him.

Lifting his gaze daringly to meet West's eyes, he answered, "Well, all I can say is that if I killed him, he must have done something to deserve it."  
The man's eerie smile quickly slipped away, his eyes hardening into a cold glare, his lips curling back in a snarl.

"You're wrong!" he snapped viciously as his hand connected with Tony's face, "He did nothing! Nothing to deserve that!"

Ignoring his sore cheek and the blood on his lip, Tony met the man's glare, his own gaze hard.

"Tell me, DiNozzo!" the man snapped, his rage fueling his rant, "Do you remember the case? The innocent victim that you shot and killed? The man you shot with no qualms, not caring if you took his life?"

Tony clenched his jaw angrily.

He had done allot of things he wasn't proud of. Allot of things. And every-time he had to pull that trigger, he regretted it. But he had never, never, killed anyone without reason. Without exhausting all other options. Without trying to save them.

West's eyes, once eager in anticipation, grew suddenly comprehending.

"You don't remember do you?" He asked quietly, cocking his head, considering the agent on the floor in front of him. His eyes darkened, his expression morphing quickly into one of rage. "Of course not!" He snapped. "Why would you? Its of no importance to you!" He spat out, clenching his fists.

"Look, maybe if you told me a little more about this guy, I could tell you!" Tony snapped. He was in for it now. Why couldn't he ever remember to keep his mouth shut sometimes?

"You should remember!" West exploded, "You killed him! An innocent man! He did nothing to you! And you killed him! Murdered him in cold-blood!"

Tony glared at that. "I have never 'murdered' anyone!"

"Lies!" West hissed, clenching his fists tighter, "You killed him! What was he to you? You stupid cops think you're so high and mighty with your badges and your guns! All that so-called power goes to your heads! You never stop to think about those who you deem as 'lesser than you'! Your so called criminals! You don't bother to think that those people whom you are out there shooting and hauling away to cells, have families! Lives! People who care about them!"

"So do their victims!" Tony couldn't stop himself from growling, "That is until those _criminals_ attack them. Rob them. _Kill_ them! Take those things away!"

"Then that makes you no better than them, does it?" West eyes glowed with rage, "You're taking them away from their families!"

"Its not the same thing!"

"It is!" West's voice snapped like a whip.

"What did _he _do then, huh? Did he steal a car? Rob a bank? Attack some poor girl? Kill someone? He must have been one evil creep for me to have shot him!"

As soon as he said it, Tony regretted it.

The man's eyes filled with murder and rage as he turned, pulling a pistol from the table behind him and aimed it at the agent's head.

He clicked back it's safety, finger on the trigger.

For a moment, they just stared at each other, eyes locked. One pair filled with death, the other defiance.

And then it was over.

A maniacal grin slid across the man's face as he started to laugh.

Tony blinked, eyes wide. This guy wasn't just crazy, he was unstable.

"Oh you are very good, Agent DiNozzo." West spoke, flipping the safety back into place and letting his arm drop, "Very good." he added in whisper.

Tony watched him carefully as he took a few steps back, gun still hanging loosely in his hand.

"You know, it really is a pity that things had to work out the that they have. Had you not been so callous, I think we could have gotten along rather well."

Tony wasn't sure whether West was still speaking to him or to himself now. Either way, it was more than unnerving.

"Despite what you think, Agent DiNozzo, I do like you. You have spunk. A good sense of humor. I think we could have been great friends." He spoke in a quiet whisper, cocking his head to the side, considering DiNozzo.

He seemed to lose interest soon, shaking himself from his thoughts. "Really a pity." he whispered, aiming his weapon again, this time taking aim for the agent's heart.

Tony swallowed. Gibbs should be here soon. He had to be. Gibbs always came for him. Never leave a man behind and all that. He'd never left him down before, why would he start now? All he had to do was stall.

"Thought you said we could have been friends? You don't really want to shoot me. You're not a killer."

"No, I'm not" West whispered quietly before adding, "But you are. And I need to right a wrong."

Tony shook his head. "No, West, you don't. This isn't you. You don't need to do this." His green eyes bored in West's brown ones, convincing. Pleading.

West seemed to consider this for a moment before speaking, a small smile gracing his lips.

"You are persausive, Agent DiNozzo, I will give you that." he shook his head. "But still."

He cocked the gun once again, and his finger deliberatly eased the trigger back...

* * *

**lol, I am evil, aren't I? No worries, the next chapter should be a bit shorter, so it won't take me too long to write.**

**Also, I'm not too thrilled with the scene with Abby, Gibbs, and McGee, but there you have it. Best I could do with it. Besides, I wanted to hurry and post this quickly.**

**Hope you enjoyed it! :) Please leave me a review! They make my day a whole lot brighter! **


	10. Chapter 9

Blah, I know, I'm terrible for leaving this go so long. I promised a quick update and I think I left you all hanging longer than I did last time. Sorry about that! :( I did mean to get it out quickly, but I had writers block for a while and couldn't get past it.

**But I'm better now, and here's a new update for you all! :)**

**Disclaimer: Don't own it.**

**

* * *

**

"NCIS! Put your gun down!"

"Put down your weapon!"

"Back away slowly!"

"Put it down, _now_!"

The mass of voices filled the room in a ringing combination of confusion; words tumbling over one another, reverberating off the barren walls. But to Tony, it was possibly the most beautiful sound he had ever heard.

He was going to be okay. He was safe. Among the mix of voices he could easily pick out Ziva, McGee, and Gibbs. They'd come for him. Just like they always had.

"Put down the weapon, West." Gibbs voice rang out clearly as the others quieted.

West, glancing quickly, took in the sight of several federal agents, all of whom had weapons expertly trained on him. He licked his lips nervously, shifting his gaze quickly back to DiNozzo so he didn't have to witness the terrifying sight around him.

He needed to do this. There was no other way. Agent DiNozzo had to be killed and he couldn't allow anything to stop him.

"West." McGee took a single, cautious step forward, "Put the gun down." He said this calmly, as if speaking to a fellow acquaintance or friend. Yelling and anger seemed to only make the man nervous, it was time for a new approach.

"You don't want to get in trouble in West." He continued, carefully taking a second step.

West jerked his head in McGee's direction, as if shooing away a particularly pesky fly; he clenched the gun tighter in his grasp.

Gibbs glanced once at Agent Keller. They exchanged a meaningful look before Keller nodded and took a few steps back, instructing his team to do the same. No need to spook the man further when he was already obviously on edge.

"He's right West." Gibbs used a calm tone that he certainly did not feel. He wanted to shoot the man to be honest. He wanted this over. He wanted Tony safe.

He glanced over to his hands were handcuffed above his head and he had blood on his face and shirt. He looked tired, worn and beaten. But he was _there_. He was alive and breathing and they still had a chance to save him.

"Come'on West, you don't want to do this." he coaxed, hoping he sounded assuring.

The laugh that erupted from West's mouth was frightening to say the least, it sounded maniacal, like something from a horror movie.

"I don't _have_ to?" He yelled, "Of course I have to! Its the only way to get justice."

"This isn't justice, West." Keller's ruff, quiet voice spoke, "We know about your brother and I know you want to justice for what happened, but this isn't the way."

"Of course it it!" West snapped viciously, "There's not other way! No-one else will do anything! No-one else cares! It has to be me." His voice quieted on the last sentence, sounding defiant and sure.

"No, doesn't have to be you. This isn't you." McGee coaxed gently.

The laugh this time was sharper, almost whip-like, "You don't know anything about me!" He snarled viciously, "Nothing! And you don't know my brother either! He didn't deserve to die like that! He was a good man!" West's hand's shook and his eyes saddened as he added quietly, "He was my brother."

McGee blinked once, glanceing back to Ziva and Gibbs once before focusing his attention back to West. "You're right, West. He didn't deserve that. No one deserves that."

This time West nodded in agreement.

Encouraged, McGee continued. "No one deserves that. Not your brother. Not Agent DiNozzo. He doesn't deserve this, West. I know you hate him for what happened to your brother, but he doesn't deserve to die this way either."  
This, however, was the wrong thing to say.

"No, no, no, no!" West snarled, gripping his handgun tighter, eyes narrowing in on Tony. "You don't understand! My brother was innocent! He never did anything wrong! And Agent DiNozzo," West swallowed past the lump in his throat, "Agent DiNozzo k-killed him. He took his life away from him. He took my brother away from me! He deserves this! He deserves to die!"

Gibbs spoke this time. "No, he doesn't. No-one deserves this, West. DiNozzo doesn't need to die." He hoped the desperation he was feeling, the plea he meant in those words was not heard.

West shook his head deliberately, ignoring him.

They didn't understand. No-one ever understands. DiNozzo had to pay for what he had done. He had killed him. He had taken Daniel from them. Had destroyed their whole family. He needed to die. He_ deserved _to die.

And he had to be the one to kill him. Life for a life. Simple as that.

He swallowed thickly. If he had to go out with DiNozzo, so be it.

And with that, he fired.

Despite his best attempts not to give in, Tony cringed and shut his eyes tight.

The echo of two shots reverberated off the walls, bouncing around omniously in the silence that followed.

* * *

Pain. Blinding, white-hot pain.  
He clenched his eyes shut in a vain attempt to ward off the on-coming pain.  
Everything was blurred. It was all one big mass of noise and blaring. The voice, yelling, sounded dense and thick, as if on the other side of a thick fog.

He cracked his eyes, tried to make sense of the confusion.

Colors flashed in front of his eyes, just as blaring and loud as the noise.

He snapped them tight again.

_Please. Please, let it end. Let me pass out. Let it stop._

The voices got louder, shouting and angry.

_Just let it go away. Just please stop._

He could feel them now. There were people moving around him, moving past him; the voices increasing in volume again as they neared.

_Please go away. Please let them stop. Just leave me alone... Just leave me alone to... what? Die? He didn't want to die. At least, he didn't think he did. Right now, amidst this sharp, horrific pain, he wasn't quite so sure any more._

"Tony!"

He jerked once. He knew that voice. McGee. They'd came.

"I will call an ambulance!" Another voice, female this time, yelled. Ziva.

"DiNozzo! Hey, DiNozzo, can you hear me?" A ruff voice asked. Gibbs. They were all here. They'd made it. They'd found him. Just like always.

"Boss, he's not waking up!" McGee's voice wavered, panicking slightly.

"Ya' think, McGee?" Gibbs snapped. Worry. They were worried about him. If he wasn't in so much pain, he would have smiled.

"He won't wake. I told you, he's dead." He nearly flinched. West.

"Shut up!" Gibbs' voice snapped harshly.

"He's-" West started again.

"Speak once more and I will be forced to rip off your arm and beat you with it!" Of course Ziva would say something like that.

"Come'on, DiNozzo, you can do. Come'on, wake up." He felt a rough, calloused hand, tapping his face.

"Boss, I don't think he's going to respond, what'd we do?"

Okay, he'd had enough. All this commotion was about to kill him.

He sucked in a deep breath and tried to shove aside the pain for a moment. It didn't help much.

"How about all of you shut up for five minutes. You're giving me a headache."

He heard McGee sigh, Ziva scoff, and Gibbs growl.

A smirk played at his lips, as he carefully cracked open his eyes. The pain was still coming fast and hard, but maybe if he tried to ignore it would go away... Yeah, right.

He peeked up, the light coming in through the doors slightly blinding. Gibbs and McGee kneeled on either side of him, stareing back.

Glancing around he spotted Ziva, standing next to a hand-cuffed West, gripping his arm tightly, as she looked at him expectantly. He also noted the blood-soaked strip of cloth wrapped round West's arm. That was strange. Usually Gibbs would have aimed for his head, not his arm. And Gibbs certainly would have caused more than a graze.

He decided to ignore that for now and attempted instead to throw Ziva his most winning, reassuring smile, but judging by the way her frown deepened and her brow creased in concern he was pretty sure it came out looking more like a pained grimace.

"Hey, DiNozzo."

He slid his eyes back over to meet Gibbs'.

"You okay? You hurt anywhere else?" He surveyed him quickly, checking for any other injuries other than the throbbing wound the bullet has left just beneath the the younger man's clavical that McGee was tending to.

" M' just peachy, Boss." Tony managed to gasp out between clenched teeth.

Gibbs nodded slowly before gently patting the man's arm. "You just hang in there, Tony. We got ya'."

Tony nodded mutely, showing he had heard.

"He is alright, yes?" Ziva asked, pulling West with her as she moved a few feet closer to get a better look.

The first reply she received was a sharp gasp of pain from Tony as he jerked back from McGee's hands as the man applied more preassure to his wound.

"He'll be okay." McGee, though pale-faced and slightly wide-eyed himself, assured.

"Speak for yourself, Probie." The SFA hissed out, screwing his eyes shut.

McGee's lips quirked half-heartedly. Even laying in a warehouse floor in the middle of no-where, bleeding out on the floor, and the man could still throw a dig in there.

Fisting the most of his jacket together, he pushed tighter against the wound as the blood gushed between his fingers.

Tony gave a pained groan and McGee couldn't help but wince in sympathy.

"Sorry, Tony." He muttered, knowing the words would do nothing to ease the pain the other man was feeling but he couldn't help but feel bad for adding to that pain.

"Mmmm." Was all the response he got from his partner as the man bit down on his lip, trying to keep from crying aloud again.

"Hang on, Tony." Gibbs gripped the man's uninjured hand, "Ambulance is almost here."

And true to Gibbs' word, said ambulance arrived three pain-filled minutes later, tries screeching as the driver soared through the door into the warehouse at a speed that would have rivaled that of a Nascar racer. Or perhaps even Gibbs.

McGee and Gibbs were shushed aside quickly as two paramedics hurried Tony onto a stretcher with perfected ease.

"BP is dropping a bit. His heart rates fast. We'll need to get him there. of the paramedics, a young blond-haired girl, rattled off to her partner.

Her partner nodded in response and jogged around to the front to report to the driver as the blond started effciently hooking Tony up to IVs and heart-monitors.

"Hang on, hon," She soothed Tony as he hissed quietly in pain, "I'll get you something for that." She patted his arm comfortingly before slipping back into the truck to grab a morphine drip.

Taking the moment of quiet calmness, McGee sidled up to Tony's side quickly, hoping to check on his injured partner once more.

"You okay, Tony?" He whispered quietly, afraid if he spoke much louder whatever thin shred of luck they were hanging onto at the moment would snap and something terrible would happen again.

Tony moaned quietly, not bothering to open his eyes as he answered. "I'll be alright, McGee."

Tim nodded once, aware Tony probably wouldn't see him, but not sure what else to say.

He looked up, glancing around the room.

Keller and his team were taping off the building, already in the process of bagging evidence and taking photos. Ziva was hauling West, none-to gently, over to the van. And Gibbs was standing, watching the commotion of the paramedics, as they zipped back and forth, readying to load Tony in the vehicle for transport.

As if sensing eyes on him, which he most likely did, Gibbs' eyes slid over to meet McGee. He offered a small, reassuring flash of a smile before turning a careful eye back to the paramedics. Probably waiting to tear them a new one should they even think about making a mistake with Tony under their care, McGee mused.

He looked back at Tony's too pale complextion. His eyes were still closed, but by the sounds of his slightly labored breathing, he was far from sleep.

McGee gripped his hands as he took note of the wrap the paramedics had put over Tony's injury, already soaked with blood.

Speaking of blood... He glanced down. He was still clutching his jacket in his hands. It was torn and nearly saturated with the red liquid.

It was only a thin jacket so it hadn't provided much of stop for the flow of the blood, but at the time it was the best he had to work with. So much for the Armani suit. It may have looked good, at one time, but it didn't really provide much help when needed.

He nearly smirked at the thought of what Tony would say if he pointed out that simple fact about his precious suits to the man.

Now that was an idea...

He looked back up at the older agent, barely concealing a smile.

"You owe me three hundred dollars." he spoke suddenly.

"Yeah, how do you figure that, McGoo?" Tony asked, actually cracking an eye open to look up at the younger man in curiosity.

"That was one of my best jackets." He smirked cockily in the way Tony usually reserved for him.

He was rewarded with grin and small chuckle which was exactly what he had been aiming for.

"Whatever you say, Prob-ay." the other man said, still grinning.

As the woman came from out the back of the ambulance, carrying the IV drip, she smiled warmly at Tim before starting to hook-up the drip to Tony's arm.  
Noticing Tony's winch as she slid the needle beneath his skin, McGee quickly picked up their conversation.

"Could use a whole new suit, actually." He teased.

This actually earned him an amused snort. "Probie, you could use a whole new wardrobe."

Tim smiled, the familiar banter as soothing to him as it was to Tony. He opened his mouth, preparing his reply, only the be halted by a soft hand on his arm.

Glancing down he was met with the light brown eyes of the paramedic.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but we need to move him now."

"Oh, of course." He quickly stepped back several feet as she and her partner grabbed an end of the stretcher and starting carefully loading the other man into the awaiting van.

McGee frowned slightly as Tony's breath hitched lightly when they settled him in. And did he become paler?

No. It was his imagination. Tony would be was in the capable hands of two trained paramedics. What could go wrong?

Apparently, everything could.

The younger man had only turned round and taken a few steps towards Gibbs and Ziva when suddenly a horrific sound filled the building.

"He's flat-lining! Hand me the paddles, we're losing him!"

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So... yeah. An even worse cliff-hanger, I know... But... well.. I couldn't help it, lol.

**I can't promise the update will be any quicker this time, but I'm going to try.**

**Soo...now that I've left you with another evil cliffhanger, what do you say to leaving a review? :D lol **

**They really do brighten my day. :)**


	11. Chapter 10

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I am so, so, so sorry! I didn't mean to let it go this long.

**I apologize to all of my readers/reviewers. You've all been so nice and here I go and make you wait like this. I DO have an explanation though as to why it took so long.**

**I have had some personal problems lately, dealing with family and I'm in the process of a move. And when I did have time to write, it depended on my mood. With the situation with my family lately, its been difficult and some days I've been really down feeling and depressed or frustrated and upset, so yeah, I really wasn't in the mood to tackle this chapter.**

**But anyway, you don't want to hear me ramble on, so on with the story! :)**

**Disclaimer: Not mine. Belongs to CBS.**

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His heart stopped. His lungs refused to draw in air. He flinched back with every shout of "Clear" and the resulting shock the surged through the younger man, causing his body to jerk.

No, no, no. This wasn't happening. Not now, not ever,

They couldn't get him back just to lose him all over again; this time for good.

He watched, feeling completely helpless, as the paramedics turned up the dial for more pressure before placing the paddles back on his agent's chest and giving him another shock.

No response. The small, green line remained flat.

Its whine was sharp and piercing; it never seemed to end. It just continued on. Giving proof that his agent, that Tony, was not with them, not yet.

Gibbs winched, silently praying as fiercely as he could that this wouldn't be the end of the agent.

_Just let him live. Don't let him die like this, not here, not now. Not when we just got him back._

"Clear!"

It was like watching a horrible car wreck. The kind that was so gruesome that it made your stomach turn and your heart clench, and yet, you couldn't tear your eyes away. You had to continue watching, waiting, to see what would happen. Waiting to see if there would be any survivors...

But this was worse. Much, much worse.

A small sound to his left penetrated through the thick tension and whine of the machines, making Gibbs turn quickly to look.

It was McGee. He stood, stock still, arms handing limply at his side, mouth gaping open in shock.

His face was an ashy white, his eyes wide. He looked ready to pass out. But he didn't. His eyes were glued to his partner, staring helplessly, desperately.

He left another quiet, pained moan as Tony's body jerked a third time, flinching back as if shocked himself.

Gibbs heart strings tightened even more painfully. He couldn't stand to see McGee's face any longer. The devastation that was etched into every line of his face, shineing deep from in his green eyes, was unbearable to watch. Knowing there was nothing he could do or say to make this stop.

He tore his eyes away, purposely avoiding the van where the paramedics were still frantically working over Tony's body.

He spotted Keller and his team stood still, watching the proceeding's with a blank, detached stare.

Some knew DiNozzo personally, some didn't. But the fact remained that he was one of theirs. A fellow agent and partner.

Turning from them, he started looking instead for Ziva.

He spotted her standing towards the opposite end of the building, West's arm in a vise-like grip.

She seemed to be frozen in place, eyes glued to her life-less partner.

Her grip on West's arm tightened painfully with each jolt and yell of the surrounding chaos.

West though, didn't notice.

He was gleefully watching the scene play out before; his eyes focused with a maniacal gleam on Tony's body.

With each failed attempt, his smirk widened.

He was enjoying this. He was actually _enjoying _this. The death he had caused.

Gibbs felt his muscles tense.

This sick fool was loving every second of this.

The fact that he had caused all of this chaos and destruction. The devastation.

The former Marine ground his teeth together in anger.

He had _killed _Tony. Had just ripped away his life. He'd taken away one of his team, one of family, from him. He had taken Tony.

And now he was going to pay for it.

He wouldn't let him get away with this.

Why should he let him live? He hadn't let Tony live. He'd shot him. Killed him without giving him a chance.

Now it was his turn.

Gibbs clenched his fists tight, his nails cutting into the flesh of his palm.

What would the justice system do anyway? Spend months, maybe even years in court, and for what? West to spend a few years in prison and get out to finish his life? Or maybe, best case scenario, spend his life in a cell. But still, it was living wasn't it? He got to live, to see daylight another day, when Tony didn't?

Gibbs hand twitched toward his weapon only to come up empty. He glanced down.

Crap. He'd given his weapon to Keller, before going over to help Tony.

West had already been caught and there was no need for it, or so he had thought. And besides, Tony had been his first priority at the time.

Oh well, forget the gun. This creep didn't deserve to go out that easily. He'd kill him with his bare hands. He'd make sure this death was slow and painful.

Mind set, fights clenched, Gibbs turned and started striding in West's direction. This was going to end now.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

"We got a pulse!"

Gibbs turned abruptly on his heel.

The paramedics were scurrying again, hooking Tony up to even more machines.

"Close the doors! We need to get him there! Now!"

The doors slammed shut, tires squealed loudly, and the sirens blared as blue and white lights disappeared around the corner and back onto the dirt road.

... Silence.

No one moved. No one spoke. The building and everyone in it seemed to be frozen in time.

Until, finally, Keller's cleared his throat quietly and spoke in his gruff tone, "Gibbs."

Said Marine shook his head, his vision clearing as he let out a deep was like waking out of a horrible dream.

He turned to look at Keller's slightly pale complexion.

"You go." He nodded towards to door of the warehouse, "Take your team with you. My team and I'll take care of this here." He cast a contempous glance towards West.

Gibbs nodded.

"You heard the man." He demanded, "Lets go."

McGee who had been watching the proceedings between the two men silently, didn't need telling twice and quickly scrambled to the car.

Ziva passed West, albeit ruffly, over to Agent Magmar and wasted no time in following her partner.

Gibbs made to follow, only to be stopped in his tracks by a firm hand on his shoulder.

Turning, Gibbs was met with Agent Keller; he silently held out his hand, offering back his gun.

"Just try not to shoot any of the doctors, will ya?" Keller teased lightly with a smirk.

Taking the weapon back, he strapped back into his holster.

He looked up and met the man's eyes, giving him a nod. "Thank you." _Thank you for understanding._

"Don't mention it, Gibbs." Keller patted his shoulder, "Go take care of your boy."

Nodding his affirmation, he quickly followed the path of his tow agents, quickly sliding into the drivers seat and shoving the key into the ignition.

He noticed Ziva's hand tighten round the door handle and felt McGee grab hold of the back of his seat as they made a hair-pin turn around the corner of the warehouse and back onto the road.

But, this time, they didn't complain or protest.

This time, it didn't matter.

What mattered was Tony and the fact that he was still alive.

And with that thought in mind as he sped onto the ramp that led to the highway, and to Tony, Gibbs could breathe again.

* * *

**I know its short, but this is taking place over just a minute or so.I wanted to put allot of focus on their reactions to Tony's possible death, but I didn't want to make it seem fake either. **

**1. Tony couldn't go but a moment or two without oxygen period. If they managed to revive him and he had gone too long without oxygen, it would have caused brain damage and I didn't want to get into that. **

**2. After a few moments of not being be able to revive him, the paramedics would have to have given up, and I really didn't want to kill off Tony in this story.**

**And besides, in situations like this, ones' thoughts are usually racing through allot at once and it seems to last longer than it really is... so... yeah.  
Just wanted to be clear, it didn't take as long as it seems too, it was only a minute or two.**

**Soooo... kay then... review? :)**


	12. Chapter 11

**Less than a week and already an update! ... Shocking, I know. **

**Disclaimer: Don't own NCIS.**

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_"But we are undressed in the ER, all of us. Our Strengths and weaknesses are openly and sometimes uncomfortably exposed." - Angels in the ER by Dr. Robert D. Lesslie._

**9:48 A.M. -**

"What do you mean you can't tell me?"

McGee and Ziva shared a covert look behind the team lead's back. This was not going to end well.

"I'm sorry, sir," The nurse tried to placate, "But I have nothing to tell you."

Gibbs growled but the woman was not one to be intimidated. She simply drew her self up to her full five foot, seven inches, and looked him in the face, meeting his challenge.

Gibbs glared.

"Can you at least tell me _where _he is?" He ground out between his teeth. He was losing his patience with the stubborn woman.

"He's in surgery." Her tone was clipped and business like.

"Surgery?" Gibbs repeated.

"Yes." She replied, "Mr. DiNozzo-"

"Tony." McGee supplied.

"Pardon?" The dark haired woman, leaned around Gibbs to look at the younger man in curiosity.

"Tony." He repeated quietly, "He hates being called Mr. DiNozzo... Its Tony."

The woman's face softened immediately. Taking in the man's weariness and sorrowful eyes, she couldn't help by feel sympathetic.

She looked to his companion. She was more close off with her feelings, but her wide eyes and the way her fingers continued to fiddle with the her jackets sleeve, told her what she needed to know.

She sighed, turning back to the blue-eyed man in front of her.

He met her gaze, staring her down determinedly. But, looking closer now, she could see it his face too. The stress lines around his mouth, the slightest flecks of fear shining in those bright blue orbs.

They were all terrified. This man, this Tony, wasn't just a co-worker, he was more to them. Much more.

She deflated, closing her eyes and letting out a weary sigh.

Opening her brown irises she was met with three curious, expectant faces.

"Mr. D-Tony," She corrected herself, "was rushed to surgery as soon as he arrived. I was not informed completely of his condition, but if you speak to the head nurse, she may be able to tell you more. She's in the conferenece room, but she should be back any minute."

After a heavy silence, the silver haired man spoke.

"Thank you." The words were sincere. His blue eyes bored into hers and the intensity nearly gave her chills.

"You're welcome." She whispered.

He nodded to her once, and with that he turned, heading for the waiting room a few feet away, his two companions hurrying behind.

She watched them go for a moment before shaking herself and turning to go back to her post.

She had seen allot things in the eight years she worked as a nurse. Co-workers, family, friends, lovers, children, parents, came and went. Grief and happiness, devastation and joy. She'd seen it all.

And she had become very skilled at picking out some-one's relation to the patient. You could always tell.

But today... today had been a misjudgment.  
They weren't co-workers.

No, they were a family.

**10:34 A.M. -**

"Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh!" Heads turned as the frantic woman hurried through the door as fast as her platform boots would allow; black pigtails swinging as she turned on the spot, obviously searching for someone.

"Ohmygosh, Gibbs, where are you?" She cried, clutching the hem of her black, skull clad t-shirt in desperation.

"Right here, Abs." A gruff voice spoke up from behind.

The girl jumped, spinning around to face the source of the voice.

"Gibbs!" She latched onto the man's neck, too relieved at the moment to even scold him for scaring her as he had.

"I'm so glad you're here. McGee told me what happened and I didn't want to believe him, I mean Tony, our Tony, shot! But McGee wouldn't lie about something like that. Not Timmy. So I left and took a cab, I mean, I wasn't really ready to drive. My hands were shaking and my legs felt all wobbly, you know what I mean? Like you can't even stand up right. And I didn't have-"

Gibbs place a gentle hand over her mouth, cutting her off from her rant.

She blinked owlishly up at him.

"Its okay, Abby." He rook his hand away from her mouth and instead used it brush some fly-away hairs from her face, "It'll be okay."

She stared at a few minutes longer before crumbling completely.

"Oh, Gibbs." She pulled him into a tighter hug, laying her head against his chest.

"I know, Abs." He ran his hand over her hair comfortingly. "I Know."

**10:59 A.M. -**

"Quickly, Mr. Palmer!" The older Scottish man called to his colleague as he hurried through the automatic doors at a pace that most men his age probably could not manage.

Palmer let out a tired huff, breaking into a full run to catch up with his mentor.

"Ah, Jethro, there you are." Ducky came to a stop in front of the silver-haired man. "Any news?"

Jimmy came to a halt behind the two men, huffing and puffing; he collapsed, bending over and putting both hands on his knees, drawing in deep breaths.

Gibbs rose an eyebrow, looking around Ducky to take in the state of the young ME.

"You alright there, Palmer?" He asked.

Palmer nodded, drawing a deep breath before answering. "Fine. Great." He sucked in another breath of air, "How's Tony?"

"Yes, Jethro, how is the poor lad?" Ducky queried as he placed a supporting hand on Jimmy's shoulder, helping the young man to straighten himself and stand upright.

The man sighed, sending a glare over his shoulder to the nurses station, "Nothing new." he informed.

"Nothing?" Jimmy froze in the process of massaging his aching knee to look up at team lead in surprise.

"Surely they must have given some information." Ducky demanded.

Gibbs shook his head, "Nope. Not a thing. Those..." he trailed off, having difficultly coming up with a word bad enough to descirbe just what he thought of the hospital staff, "people" he ground out the word in frustration, "won't give us the time of day much less anything else."

Ducky, apparently, was not please with this information.

Drawing himself up to his full height and pursing his lips, now looking quite intimidating compared to his usual jovial demeanor, "Well, we shall just see about that." He declared firmly. "We'll see just what they have to say once I've said my piece. And" he tacked on as afterthought, "I know one of the physicians who frequents this clinic, "I'm sure he would be glad to provide adequate assistance." With that he turned abruptly on his heel and stalked down the hall, towards the nurses station, leaving his two companions staring after blankly in shock.

"He really can be pretty frightening when he wants to be." Palmer mumbled.

Gibbs nodded mechanically, watching as his long time friend gave one of the surgeons the nurse had fetched for him a proper chewing out.

"Lets just hope they think so, too." he added.

**11:08 A.M. -**

"Well?" McGee shot to his feet upon seeing Ducky's re-approach.

The others followed suit, looking hopeful.

Ducky sighed, "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid they were not able to tell me anything." His tone was weary and defeated, a far cry from his earlier firm determination.

"But what about your friend?" Ziva pursued quickly, "Surely he was able to give you something, yes?"

Ducky shook his head, "His shift ended a short while ago. He was not even here when Anthony arrived."

Gibbs blew out a breath, throwing himself back into one of the maroon, padded chairs in exasperation.

"Still.. the other doctors?" Abby pushed.

"I'm sorry, Abigale, but I'm afraid they were hard-pressed for information themselves. Once Anthony was brought in, one of the surgeons, a Dr... Dorsey, I believe, rushed him into surgery. Only he and the assisting nurses, are aware of his condition. I am sure, eventually other nurses will be informed, but for now, any one involved, isn't available to give information."

"I know." She sighed, plopping onto the corner of the coffee table, propping her elbows on her knees and putting her chin in her hands, "I was just hoping-"

"I know, my dear. Believe me, I understand." Ducky assured, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

His eyes roamed over the room's other occupants. McGee had placed his head in his hands in defeat, Ziva and Mr. Palmer had taken up positions by the window and were staring dejectedly at the streets below while Jethro had resumed his pacing.

And in a whisper, he added to himself, "We all do."

**1:24 P.M. -**

All was quiet save for the continued _clop, clop, clop_, of Abby's heavy steel-toed, big buckled boots as she paced the room. Wall to wall, back and forth. Both Gibbs and Ducky had tried to calm her long enough to rest and take a seat, but their reasonings had fallen on deaf ears. And after a while, they had just stopped trying.

After three hours of waiting and worrying, everyone's nerves were on end and their fears running wild.

"Where are they?" She asked again, turning on her heel to pace back in the other direction for a while, "They should be done by now! Tony should be okay now!"

Gibbs sighed, sinking a little further in his chair and folding his arms a little tighter across his chest.

Abby was right. Where were the doctors? It shouldn't have taken them this long. What the heck was going on?

"Oh." She let out a long, pained moan as she looked at the clock again, realizing another ten minutes had passed since she had last looked and there was still no word on their friend.

"Somethings wrong." She concluded. "It has to be. Its been hours! And there's nothing! Not a peep! No-body's said anything! How hard is it to just come around the corner and tell you whats going on! I mean, really-"

Gibbs stood, hurrying over to the frantic woman, "Abs... Abs." He coaxed, gripping her arms gently, "It'll be okay, Abby." He gave her quick kiss on the forehead. "I'll be alright."

"But Gibbs.." her eyes quickly filled with tears that had yet to overspill today, "Its been over three hours. It shouldn't be taking them this if there were problems? What if he's worse than we thought? What if... what if they couldn't... couldn't do anything for him... and they're just afraid to tell us. What if he-"

"Shhh." He quickly wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a hug, "Shhh, Abs. Its gonna be okay." He rested his chin on her head.

She choked back another quiet sob, a few tears streaming down her cheeks. "But what'll we do Gibbs? What if.. What if we lose him. What'll we do without Tony?"

Gibbs swallowed thickly. Looking over her shoulder, he was met with McGee's gaze as the man stared silently back up at him; silently asking him all of the questions Abby herself had just voiced.

He glanced to Ziva, she was staring at him too. Her deep brown eyes, now watery with tears, bored into his blue ones, seeking reassurance.

"He'll be okay." He said firmly, speaking not just to Abby, but to the other two as well, "It'll be alright."

"How can you say that, Gibbs?" She sniffed, "What if something happened?"

"Nothings happened and nothing will happen. I'd know." And he would know. Forget gut feelings and intuition. He'd just_ know_. He knew when Shannon and Kelly had been killed.

Okay, so he hadn't known _what _had happened or how. But he knew they were gone. There was just a feeling. Something that struck his heart and he had known.

And he would know if Tony, or any one of his team were, gone. He'd feel it.

Tony was still alive.

"Jethro is right, Abigale." Ducky agreed, "And if something were to happen, the physicians would tell us. Tony is going to be just fine."

"He has to be." McGee's quiet, despondent whisper carried through the silence in the room.

Abby sniffed, pulling back from Gibbs' embrace to look around at McGee.

The younger man sat, staring straight ahead, as if oblivious to everyone else in the room, deep circles under his weary eyes.

"Oh, Timmy." She let go of Gibbs before hurrying quickly over to the distraught man and plopping down into a chair next to him before throwing her arms around his neck and pulling him into a hug.

Tim turned into the embrace, putting an arm around her back, giving comfort as he received it.

Ziva watched them for a moment, head tipped to the side in consideration, before apparently winning the battle in her mind, standing, and going to join on McGee's other side, placing one hand on his knee and her head against his side.

With some difficulty due to the fact that he was now sandwiched between the two women, McGee managed to pull his other arm free and slip it around her, including her in the hug.

Gibbs couldn't help the small, proud smile that slipped across his face as he watched them.

"Come, Jethro." Ducky offered quietly, "How about some coffee?" He cast a look over his shoulder to the three huddled friends. _Lets give them a few moments to themselves._

"Sounds great, Duck." he threw the three a last glance before turning to follow his friend.

Ducky paused for a moment, turning back to the room, "Would you care to join us, ? I dare say you could probably use something to drink as well."

Palmer, who still hadn't moved from his postition near the one of the large windows that overlooked the street below, didn't answer.

"Mr. Palmer?" This time, Gibbs turned to look too.

Palmer continued to stare out into the sea of cars below, not even flinching.

"Jimmy?" Ducky took a step forward, his face creased in concern and worry.

The sound of his first name appeared to penetrate the thoughts Palmer had lost himself in.

"Yes, doctor?" He stood up straight, almost at attention.

"Are you quite alright?" The old ME asked, still concerned.

His assistant blinked a few times in surprise, apparently not expecting that question.

"Uh, yeah, fine. Just fine."

Ducky's eyes narrowed briefly before deciding to let that lie slide.

"Would you care to join us for a break?"

Palmer shook his head, "No... No thank you, Dr. Mallard."

Ducky sighed, sharing a quick look with Jethro over his shoulder.

"Mr. Palmer, you need to rest, you realize? You've been standing in front of that same window since shortly after we arrived."

"Alright. Yeah, fine. I'll...I'll just take a walk." he nodded to himself once before turning on his heel and heading out of the room, in the opposite direction, without another word.

"Oh dear." Ducky sighed, "Jethro, do you mind-"

"Go on, Duck. You want me to get you something?" He offered.  
"No. No. I'll fetch something later. Right now, I believe young Mr. Palmer needs my help."

Gibbs watched him go for a moment, hurrying after his young assistant before casting another glance at his team, who were still holding tightly to one another. Assured that everyone was taken care of for the moment, he went in search of a coffee machine that would hopefully manage to produce something more than black sludge.

He came close. The machine he was able to locate at least gave him something that smelled like coffee. Whether or not it tasted like it he was loath to find out.

"Yes, that's the right paitent." Gibbs cast a quick glance at the petite brunette as he passed.

She wore a nurses' uniform similar to many of the others he had seen today, the only difference was the small black lettering across the pocket that introduced her as the supervisory nurse. She was pointing to a sheet of paper on the clipboard in her companion's hand.

"Are you sure?" The blondie nurse next her asked. She was obviously new to the job and still quite unsure.

"Of course, I'm sure. Its the same name. Anthony DiNozzo."

_Anthony.. Tony._

Gibbs froze in the doorway, his feet unwilling to go further. He held his breath, waiting.

"But I thought he was shot. Why would Dr. Dorsey need more assisting nurses? Aren't June and Tine already back there?" The blonde's slightly nasal tone carried down the hall to Gibbs' ears.

"Yes, he was, but they've had a few complications." Her companion's quiet voice explained, her tone sympathetic, "Just get Janice and Clair. Dr. Dorsey's in emergency 3."

"Poor guy." The blondie sympathized. "He gets shot and then this happens?"

"I know." Her colleague agreed, "Hope he catches a break soon."

Gibbs waited, hoping to hear more, but apparently they'd finished their conversation. Their footsteps echoed down the hall, leaving it empty and him alone.

_What complications? What was going on? _

Gibbs drew a shaky breath.

This couldn't be happening. He was supposed to be okay now.

He stood there a few moments longer. He should move, but he wasn't sure he could.

What had they even meant by 'complications'? What could be going on back there?

He closed his eyes, leaning back against the white, cool plaster wall behind him.

They couldn't lose Tony here. Not in a _hospital_ of all places! Not after everything they'd already went through.

He couldn't take it anymore. This was all becoming way too much.

He slid down the wall, hitting the cold tiles beneath him, sitting the now cold coffee cup on the floor.

He struggled to take in a deep breath. Why was it so much harder to breathe lately?

He just wished this was over already. Wished there was a way to fast-forward in time, past all the heartache. Or better yet, a way to rewind, to make sure these things would have never happened.

"Boss?" a tentative voice shook slightly, bringing his head up in an instant.

It was McGee.

The younger man had stopped a few feet away and was now watching him warily.

"Ducky asked me to come find you. Said you should have been back by now..." He trailed off, swallowing hard, "Its Tony, isn't it?" He asked, his voice cracking. "Somethings happened." It wasn't a question, but a statement.

Gibbs looked down, unable to meet the other's eyes.

McGee had had enough heartache these past few days, he didn't need more.

His agent on the other hand apparently disagreed.

"Boss, what happened?" He moved a few feet closer, "Is... Whats going on?"

Jethro closed his eyes, swallowing hard. McGee wouldn't let this go, he knew that much, he'd have to tell him.

"Boss?" McGee was right in front of him now. He looked positively terrified. "What's wrong with Tony?"

Gibbs cleared his throat, "There've been some complications." He winched as his voice cracked with emotion on the last word.

"Complications?" McGee asked, "What kind of complications?"  
The older man shook his head, "Don't know. Didn't hear."

"But... But are you sure they didn't... I mean how could they not say... Are you sure it was Tony?" Tim asked, desperate now, grasping at straws.

"They were talking about DiNozzo, Tim. They didn't say what was wrong, just that there were problems." Gibbs looked up at him and watched as at least a million different emotions crossed the man's face.

He finally settled on just being plain worn and tired before letting out a long, heavy sigh, and dropping into a spot on the floor next to Gibbs.

"It'll end one day, right, boss?" He asked, his voice coming out broken, catching on his words.

"One day, McGee. One day."

The younger man nodded, clenching his eyes tight, inhaling a sharp breath.

Gibbs watched him for a moment as he struggled between holding it together and letting go. His heart strings were being tugged painfully as he watched his agent.

"Come here," He whispered quietly before putting an arm around the other man's shoulders, pulling him into a one armed hug.

Tim leaned into the embrace, grateful for the support.

"It'll be alright, Tim. One day, it will be alright."

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**Well, what do you think? I know we didn't really get anything new on Tony's condition, but I promise, that's coming next chapter. **

**Leave a review! They're the sunshine to my day. lol!**


	13. Chapter 12

**Blah, I am soooo sorry this took so long. No real excuse, I just got busy and distracted and didn't take the time to sit down and work on it. **

**But here's a new chapter for you; hope you enjoy. :)**

**Disclaimer: Belongs to CBS, I don't own anything.**

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**1:57 P.M. -**

"How did it go?" Anne's naturally quiet voice came from behind him.

Dr. Tompson Dorsey turned to meet her eyes, giving her a smile as he accepted the clipboard she was offering over to him.

"Good." He nodded, eyes quickly scanning over the information on the sheet of paper in front of him, "There were a few complications, but all things considered, I'd say it went very well."

"Thank goodness." Anne breathed a sigh of relief.

Tompson smiled; Anne was a sweet girl, she cared about the patients under her care as if they were her own.

"Maybe they'll let you live." She chuckled, giving his right bicep a pat.

"Who?" He asked, curious.

"Them." She waved towards the waiting room.

He leaned around the counter, peering into the modestly decorated, well-lit room. There was a small group of people, all sitting in one of the many rows of maroon padded chairs. They were an odd ensemble.

Two men sat together, talking quietly, one middle-aged and grayed, the other an aged gentlemen of Scottish decent. Another man, much younger than the two previous was sitting in between two woman, both of his hands clasping one of theirs. The girl on his right, a dark-haired women, sat almost stoically, staring straight ahead, while the other, her black pigtails starting to wilt, used her other hand to rub comforting circles on the arm of the man next to her, a bespectacled man, obviously the youngest of the crew.

"They don't seem too threatening." He said. Anne had come to stand next to him now, taking a look into the room herself.

She chuckled again, "No, not right now they don't. But that gentleman there," she nodded to the oldest of the group, "came tearing in here just a while ago, demanding information. It was rather terrifying."

Dr. Dorsey took another look. He watched as the man nodded to his companion, his hands never ceasing their constant turn of the tan, flimsy-rimmed hat in his hands. He certainly didn't seem intimidating.

"And Marla," Anne continued, "said that other man, the one with the silver hair, was pretty intimidating. And if he intimidated Marla..." Anne trailed off with a shake of the head.

He took another look at the other man. Now he, Dorsey assumed, could be very intimidating when he wanted to be.

"The others haven't made more than verbal threats." Anne added on with a small smile, "But still getting shot and being poisoned aren't exactly favored options."

He threw her a surprised look before glancing back at the clan in the other room.

"Do I really want to go in there?" He asked her.

She laughed, "Come now, Mr. Dorsey," She teased, "Are you telling me you're afraid of them?"

"Considering they threatened poison and shootings, yes."

She laughed, "Well, you said you had good news. I'm sure they won't maim you for that."

"Are you sure don't want to talk to them?"

"Dr. Dorsey!"

"Alright, alright.' He conceded, "But wish me luck; I may not come out of this alive."

"You're such a drama king." She teased, giving him a playful shove in the shoulder towards the door.

He tossed her a swift smirk before making a show of steeling himself before entering.

The silver-haired man looked up at his entrance; his piercing blue eyes roved over him in an obvious inspection. The intensity was almost... eerie. Maybe there was a reason to be frightened after all.

Dr. Dorsey gave him a shaky smile, nodding to him.

Gibbs' eyes narrowed, almost a glare now.

Dorsey cleared his throat nervously, drawing the attention of the rest of the room.

"I'm Dr. Dorsey. I was the primary surgeon for Mr. DiNozzo."

"Well?" McGee asked quickly, not having the patience to bother with further preamble. "Is he okay?"

Dorsey smiled at him lightly, almost amused, before addressing the room at large, "He'll be just fine."

The affect was instantaneous. Gibbs let out a breath while both Ziva and Palmer sagged back against their seats. McGee's face split into a smile and Ducky chuckled as Abby let out a cry of victory, leaping from her seat and punching the air in one motion.

Dorsey smiled brightly, he always loved being able to provide good news.

He almost hated to speak again and break up their celebration.

Still, there was no point in putting it off. He held up his hand to stall any further cries or excitement. "But-"

"Oh, crap." McGee groaned, sinking back into his chair.

Dorsey gave him a small smile, hoping he seemed at least some-what reassuring, "Its going to take some time for him to recover." he explained, "The bullet hit the clavicle bone." He gestured to his own neck-line in the general vicinity of his own clavicle, "And a piece of the bone chipped off and lodged itself in the heart cavity; causing cardiac arrest."

Abby's hands flew to her mouth, eyes widening, as Ziva tensed up, sitting ram-rod straight in her seat.

"I don't want to alarm you." Dorsey hurried to calm them, "I can assure you that he will fully recover. Its just going to take some time."  
"So..." Ziva paused for a second, "He will be able to return to work. Do everything that he was always able to do, yes?"

"Yes, ma'am."

It was a small testament to how relieved Ziva was that she didn't even notice the formal address of 'Ma'am' the doctor had used.

"Can we see him then?" Palmer asked, sounding hopeful.

All heads snapped in Dr. Dorsey's direction, waiting for his confirmation.

"Of course." he smiled, Follow me, I'll take you to him."

**2:08 P.M. - **

The sight that greeted them when they walked through the door was certainly not one any of them expected.

The stark white sheets, IV drip, and beeping of the heart monitor were all very much anticipated.

But the stark pallor of Tony's complexion, the thick bandages, and the various machines beeping and whirring, either measuring Tony's condition or keeping it on track, were not.

"I'll let you have some time alone." Dr. Dorsey spoke quietly, slipping behind the group and out the door, letting it slide closed behind him.

For a few moments the beeps and occasional clicks of the various pieces of machinery filled the room.

No one moved. No one spoke.

Finally, one by one they started to separate, finding chairs, leaning against walls, sitting on windowsills.

The room really wasn't made to hold such a large group, but they made it work. Now that they finally had the opportunity to see Tony, they weren't going to waste it.

They kept up their silent vigil for several hours, keeping watch over their injured friend and one another, providing support.

It wasn't until evening hours that Gibbs stood, taking the opportunity to stretch the tense muscles in his back and legs, making an attempt to send the others home.

"But, Gibbs!" Abby's protest was met by a combination of the others voices as they all made their move to protest the situation.

"Hey. Hey!" He held up a hand to silence the voices, "There's no point in everyone staying."

"But what about Tony?" Abby cried, laying a protective hand on his arm, "We can't just leave him!"

"We won't, Abs." He soothed, "I'll keep watch over him tonight," he held up a hand as the others opened their mouths, "and you can all come back tomorrow after a good nights sleep. No point in everyone trying to make do in the hospital." He tried to reason.

"But you can't just send us home!" McGee protested.

"Actually, McGee, I can." He contradicted. "You need to go home. Go get some sleep."

"No, I don't, I'm fine!" He protested, shooting up out of his seat.

Gibbs rubbed a hand tiredly down his face, "McGee, you haven't really slept in days."

"But I don't need-"

"McGee, go home." He ordered firmly.

He could definitely understand McGee's position; he didn't want to leave Tony's side either. But the man had barely gotten any sleep the past week and if he kept it up there would be more than one of his agents in the hospital. And that was one thing Gibbs was sure he couldn't handle.

"But, Boss, I just need-" McGee protested.

"No, McGee, you go home." He spoke with finality, sending the younger man one of his best glares for good measure.

McGee pursed his lips angrily, his nostrils flaring in frustration; he didn't speak, but he continued to stand his ground, staring back at Gibbs.

Everyone's eyes were on the duo, eyes flicking between the two as quickly if they were watching a tennis match.

Only Palmer seemed to be able to jerk his eyes away from the scene, though he glanced back one last time before slipping quietly out the door, unnoticed.

They stayed like that for only a moment before McGee unhappily resigned himself to Gibbs order; heaving a heavy, beaten sigh, he flopped back down in his chair, defeated.

He didn't get it. Didn't Gibbs understand why he needed to stay? He needed to be there to watch out for his partner, keep him safe.

It wasn't that he didn't believe Gibbs couldn't do the job. Definitely not. If there was one person to have to watch your back it was Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Especially after these past few days; he'd be watching Tony like a hawk. No-one with even the mere thought of causing Tony harm would make it in a hundred mile radius with Gibbs on watch.

But still, he _needed _to be there. Not just to keep watch over Tony and protect him. But for himself. He needed to see Tony with his own eyes; had to know he was still alive and still there.

But instead he was going to be at home, a good twenty-miles or so away from the hospital.

Unless...

Of course.

He glanced around the room, Abby and Ziva were talking quietly near the window while Ducky was ordering scheduled phone calls from Gibbs containing updates on Tony's condition, and Palmer... was no where to be found. Odd. Must have had to use the restroom.

Keeping a careful eye out, McGee discreetly slipped the jacket he had folded up on his lap into the farthest corner of his chair, shoving it into the seam between the arm and the padding for the bottom.

"Alright, everyone," Ducky's voice cut through Ziva and Abby's whispers, "Lets say goodbye shall we? We'll stop by tomorrow." He spoke the last line firmly, throwing Gibbs' a stern look.

Gibbs nodded as he fought of the twitching of his lips as he tried not to smile.

Unsurprisingly Abby moved forward to Tony first; she leaned in and, with an gentleness none of them had seen her use before, hugged Tony carefully, mindful of every tube and wire. She clenched her eyes tight as she gave him a light squeeze, trying to convey all of her love and concern into that one hug.

"We love you, Tony." She whispered quietly into his ear before pulling back to go collect her things.

Ziva moved in, smiling as she placed a gentle hand on his bicep, leaning in to place an affectionate kiss on his moved forward, placing her forehead to his, muttering in a Hebrew prayer, just loud enough for Tony to hear her if he could, before patting his arm and backing up, out of the way for the others.  
"Mr. Palmer, would you care too-" Ducky paused, glancing around, "Mr. Palmer?" The others turned now too, looking for the missing ME assistant, only to come up empty.

"Now where on earth-" Ducky's voice trailed off as the door clicked behind them.

They turned to watch as Palmer slipped quietly back into the room, his back to them as he eased the door closed.

He turned, starting in surprise as he caught sight of everyone's eyes on him.

He swallowed thickly, "Um... Hi?"

"Mr. Palmer where have you been?" Ducky asked curiously, eyes narrowing as he noticed Jimmy covertly hiding a hand behind his back.

"Well, I... I... I was just..." He cleared his throat awkwardly before pulling his hand out and holding it out for the others to see; in his palm he held a small bright red, model Ferrari. Just like Magnum's.

"I went to the gift shop," He hurried to explain even as a bright red blush started spreading across his cheeks, "I didn't think Tony would appreciate flowers... and a card is just... well... I thought-"

"Its perfect, Mr. Palmer." Ducky assured with a kind smile.  
"He'll love it." Abby agreed with a nod.

Jimmy offered a small, shy, yet thankful smile back before slipping by the others to place the car gently on the nightstand near Tony's bed.

"Lets go, shall we?" Ducky prompted and with a few last good-byes to Gibbs, the small group made their way out of the room and back down the hall.

They has only been walking for a few minutes when Tim glanced back over his shoulder. They had just passed the nurses station. Now was a good a time as any.

"Ah, crap." He groaned out suddenly, making sure his voice carried just far enough for the others to hear.

"Timmy?" Abby paused and turned as the others in front slowed to a stop.  
"I left my jacket." he threw up his arms in mock exasperation.

"Do you want me to-" Abby started.

"No, no." He quickly assured, "Its my jacket, I'll get it. You guys go on, I'll be right behind you."

Abby nodded mutely before turning and following the others out of the large, white-colored lobby of the hospital, into the cool, slightly foggy air of the parking lot; all of them non-the-wiser to his trick. Though, he thought he might have caught Ziva sending him a covert wink.

He waited until they were well out of sight before turning on his heel and making his way back down the hall. Past all the doors, and the plain orange and green paper boarders that ran the length of the wall; an attempt to break the monotony of the plain, white paint.

_'172... 173...174...' _He counted down as he passed each door, _'175... 176...'_

He stopped at the end of the wall, looking between the wide entryway that led to what McGee assumed to be another row of the light wooden doors, Tony's door just on the other side of the path.

He chewed on his lip, casting a glance down the hall-way, then back to Tony's door.

Should he wait? Gibbs would tear him a new one for disobeying an order like this. But he had to see Tony...

He cast a quick look around. The halls were calm and devoid of activity. There would be no-one around to question him if he stood out here for a while.

And besides, it may be Gibbs they were talking about, but he'd have to leave sometime. After-all, the man's coffee cup was nearly empty when they'd walked up. He'd have to get a refill sometime soon.

Plan already formed, Tim leaned back against the wall, using it for support, and waited.

**6:48 P.M.**

The quiet click nearly made him jump. He paused, holding his breath, waiting to be sure.

He could make out quiet footfalls of Gibbs' shoes as they echoed down the hall as Gibbs made his way, thankfully in the opposite direction, to get a refill.

Perfect.

He waited a moment longer, until he was sure Gibbs had passed the corner and was out of sight before rounding the corner and slipping into Tony's room.

He stilled, his breath catching for a moment at the sight of his partner in the hospital bed before he swallowed thickly and forced his feet to move across the tiled floor from the doorway to his friend's bed-side.

"Hey, Tony." He swallowed hard, past the lump in his throat, not quite sure what to say or do now that he was here. Should he talk to him? Would he even here him? Probably not. And what about when Gibbs came back? It wouldn't take him long to find another machine, grab another cup of his favorite brew, and get back down here. What then?

McGee huffed out a frustrated sigh. So much for his wonderful plan.

Should he leave before Gibbs came back?

No.

No, he couldn't leave Tony, not now. He had to see him. Had to be here for his friend.

If having his partner's back came with consequences, then so be it. He wasn't going to leave him again.

He looked down at Tony again. He looked so pale.

"You gave everybody a real scare, you know that?" He asked, his voice coming out hoarse, "Even Gibbs. I didn't think that was possible."

He breathed out a light laugh, able to imagine the bragging Tony would be doing right about now were he awake to claim that he had managed to frighten the one and only Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

The humor in the situation seemed to evaporate as quickly as it came, however, at the realization that it had been much too long since he had heard Tony brag about much of anything. Not since that day in the hospital.  
It seemed like much longer than just a day.

And, he had to admit it, he missed Tony's bragging. And teasing. And annoying movie references. He missed Tony.

The man could be irritating, but he also had a special way of getting in under your skin and making it hard not to like him.

And now, after over five years of being partners, he didn't even want to consider the thought of not having Tony with them, on the team, helping to watch their backs everyday.

He couldn't even imagine what it would be like.

"You need to hang on, Tony." He whispered. His emotions making his throat feel thick and his voice come out in more of a rasp. "I know you're probably worn out after these past couple days, goodness knows we are all," He chuckled humorlessly, "but you need to hang on just a bit longer. We..." He cleared his throat that had closed tight with emotion, blinking back a few tears, "we need you, Tony. You can't leave us, not yet."

He picked up his friend's hand, holding it in a gentle, comfortable grasp, reassured by the beating pulse underneath his thumb.

"We miss you." He whispered, "Its not the same... No jokes... none of your movie references... Nobody to call me Probie.." He chuckled for real this time, "You gotta pull through this, man. Please. We're here for you."

He paused, looking down at his partner. He almost expected Tony's eyes to flutter open, for the green irises to stare up into his just for a few seconds, before Tony would break out into a wide grin, and call him an over-emotional wuss.

But there was nothing. No response.

McGee sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, the other hand still holding onto Tony's.

He looked back down at his partner.

"Would be better if you could actually here this." He muttered, "Maybe you'd listen..." He trailed off, shaking his head, a small smile twitching at his lips, "But then you've never listened to me before when you were awake, much less asleep, what makes me think you're actually going to listen now, right?" He asked with a smile.

He expected no answer this time.

After all, when had Tony had listened to him, right?

Leave it to DiNozzo to have to prove him wrong.

McGee jumped slightly, eyes widening, as he felt the slight pressure on his left hand.

His eyes flicked quickly down to his hand that was still entwined with Tony's, watching as Tony's loose grip on his own hand slacked and dropped back to the bed.

He glanced up at the man's face, waiting.

But Tony's eyes remained closed, his expression still impassive and peaceful in sleep, but there was no doubt that he had heard Tim. He had heard and understood and was doing his best to listen.

And, for the first time in what felt like weeks, Tim grinned. The smile splitting wide across his face.

Tony was back.

**6:59 P.M.**

He took a sip of the steaming, black liquid as he pushed his way back into Tony's room; the smell of the coffee and the warmth from the foam cup in his hand both comfortingly familiar.

It had taken a trip to the cafeteria to find a decent cup, but maybe now he could unwind his nerves and settle in for at least a few hours of sleep.

He froze, one hand still on the door-knob the other half-way to raising the cup of the black brew back to his lips.

Someone else was in the room.

He lowered his hand, glancing around the room to spot the intruder.

His eyes landed on a young man, slumped down in one of the chairs next to Tony's bed, hands folded in his lap, long since passed out.

McGee.

Just great.

He pursed his lips, letting out a frustrated sigh.

So much for going home like he was told.

He rolled his eyes as he turned, shutting the door quietly, and going farther into the room.

He was half-tempted to wake the kid up, give him a thorough chewing out for disobeying a direct order and send him on his way back to his apartment. If there was one thing he couldn't tolerate, it was his people disboeying an order. Most especially when their health or safety was involved.

But as he watched McGee shuffle slightly in his sleep, adjusting himself and sinking further into the chair, unconsciously leaning closer towards Tony, he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

Because if there was one thing he expected of his people over everything else it was their loyalty to their team.

He let out a huff, pulling up a chair across from McGee, falling back into it; he tipped his head side to side, winching as he felt the cricks and pulling at his muscles.

Leaning back and doing his best to get comfortable in the straight-backed chair, he let his eyes drift over the scene in front of him.

McGee, slumped in his seat, only just starting to snore softly as he fell even deeper into a peaceful sleep, for once since this whole ordeal had started completely at peace.

Technically, he shouldn't even be here, and during other circumstances, he wouldn't be. But this time, for his partner, for his friend, he was. He'd stuck by him again.

And Tony, laid out out on the white sheets, hooked up the machines and IVs', maybe a bit pale beneath the black and blue bruises, but still alive and well.

Still fighting and still holding on for all his worth to keep going.

Even through all the chaos the past few days had brought about, he was still going.

Gibbs felt a small smile tug at his lips at the sight of the both of them, still there, still fighting. Together.

He was proud of his boys.

**3:12 A.M.**

The soft rustle of fabric and the quiet murmur of a groan was what woke him.

His eyes snapped open and his muscles tensed. He let his eyes adjust, taking in his surroundings until he belatedly remembered where he was.

Hospital. Tony was shot.

His eyes roamed the room, falling first on McGee.

He blinked in confusion as heard the man's quiet snores and watched the slow rise and fall of his chest.

If he hadn't moved, then what...

"Hmph." The mumble came again.

Tony.

He shot up quickly in his seat, watching carefully for any sign of life from the still man in the bed.

_'Come on, Tony, you can do it. Wake up.'_

The mumble came again and this time Gibbs was positive it had come from his second in command.

He bolted from the chair and made his way over to Tony, placing one of his hands over Tony's own, hoping maybe the physical contact alone would be enough to draw him from his slumber.

DiNozzo's hand twitched slightly at the contact, but he didn't wake.  
"DiNozzo." He muttered, just loud enough for Tony to hear. "You need to wake up." He whispered "Come on, that's an order."

Tony's eyes tightened fractionally at the voice.

"Come on, Tony." He coaxed, rubbing his thumb over the back of Tony's hand in a comforting manner.

"Boss?" The voice finally came; it was pained and scratchy sounding, but to Gibbs, it was possibly one of the best things he'd ever heard.

"Yeah, DiNozzo. Who else? The tooth fairy?" He teased quietly.

He was rewarded with a tired, weak chuckle.

"Always said... you had a sense of humor, Boss. Nobody'd believe me..."

Gibbs snorted, amused.

Tony continued on, mumbling something unintelligible. But considering the fact that he was currently hooked up to heavy doses of painkillers, Gibbs was pretty sure he didn't want to know what he was saying anyway.

"Go back to sleep, DiNozzo." He patted the man's shoulder. He almost hated to let him pass out again, now that he finally had him awake and talking again, but sleep right now would be the best thing for the younger man, whether DiNozzo agreed on that or not. "You'll feel better in the mourning."

"No... was gonna... tell you..." Tony shook his head back and forth with as much strength as he could muster, his eyes already drooping.

"Whatever it is can wait till tomorrow." Gibbs assured, "Just rest, Tony." He instructed in a quiet whisper.

He turned, attempting to grab the extra blanket that the nurses had provided at the end of Tony's bed with the intentions of throwing it over his agent, hoping maybe the gesture would calm him to sleep, only to be stopped by a weak grip on his forearm.

Gibbs looked down at his agent, meeting his gaze. Assured his boss wouldn't move, Tony let go of his grip on Gibbs' arm, letting his hand drop back to the bed.

"Gotta tell ya.." He repeated sleepily, already slipping back into unconsciousness.

"Tell me what, DiNozzo?"

"Thanks... Thanks for... coming, boss." His eyes slipped closed and his words were muffled as he turned his face into the pillow, falling back into a peaceful sleep.

"Always, DiNozzo." Gibbs muttered quietly to the sleeping man in front him as he gently brushed back a few strands of hair from the younger man's forehead, "Always."

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**So, Tony's alive and well, that warrents a few reviews, doesn't it? ;)**


	14. Chapter 13

**Yes, I am in-fact still alive. :P**

**I am so, SO sorry it took me so long to get back to this. I'm not going to bother with excuses or reasons; I had time to work on it and opportunity, I just... didn't. I am so sorry.**

**For all of you who have stuck with me until I updated - Thank you. Really, thank you.**

**Okay, so last chapter. I had a bit of trouble with the ending at first, trying to figure out how to bring this all to close, but I think I did okay. :)**

**So here it is, the epilogue to 'How Does it All Go Wrong?'. Dedicated to my best friend - Hermione's Shadow. :)**

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"Ouch, McGee!" Tony sent the younger man a mock glare, rubbing his leg in an exaggerated gesture. "Don't you know how to operate a wheel-chair?"

"Of course I do, Tony." McGee huffed. He tightened his grip on the handles of said chair as he backed it up closer to the bed, away from the door.

He scanned the room with a careful eye, taking care to make sure that nothing was left behind.

Tony's movies, laptop, and magazines were out of the drawer, tolietries off the counter, robe off the hook and all items were stuffed into Tony's duffel bag which was resting in the chair next to Tony's evacuated bed.

It seemed like a life-time ago, McGee mused, since he had woken up in that very same chair to meet the stare of one Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

He remembered now, how his cheeks had tinged red and he had slipped, just for a moment, back into his habit of stuttering in Gibbs' presence when he realized he had been caught staying at the hospital.

After a moment of himming and hawing, he had swallowed thickly, straightened his shoulder and met Gibbs' gaze, ready to take whatever Gibbs threw his way.

What he received he had not been expecting.

Gibbs had _smiled_.

And not his feral, ready to murder smile.

But an genuine, _amused_ smile.

He had been taken aback to say the least.

Gibbs' only reaction to his wariness and completely baffled expression had been an amused quirk of his eyebrow before he had started filling him in on Tony's progress the night before.

And after hearing that Tony had been awake and forming a coherent sentence that actually made sense had driven all thoughts of worry and confusion from McGee's brain.

That is until Gibbs had brought it up later.

When Gibbs had broached the subject, he had honestly expected a chewing out that he wasn't entirely sure he didn't deserve.

But Gibbs' words, few though they were, were compltely unexpected and were ones that McGee was sure he would never forget - "Good job, McGee. You did me proud."

And with that the ex-marine had turned and walked back to Tony's room without another word.

"So," Tony's voice drew McGee from his thoughts. "we get everything, McGee?" he asked, tipping his head back to look up at his Probie.

"Yeah, I think so. You only had the Bond movies, right?"

"And the season of Magnum." Tony reminded him.

"Then we got it."

It had been just over a week now since that night he fell asleep in this room; and Tony had made amazing progress since then. He was still weak, hence the wheelchair. But being nearly over-dosed, kidnapped, getting shot, and then going into cardiac arrest tends to do that to a person.

And though he still had a couple more weeks of physical therapy to get him back on his feet and into his former condition, he was well on the way to a full recovery and was finally ready to leave the nurses vigilant care. Much to DiNozzo's relief.

The first few days had been mainly filled with a few moments of chorency when Tony would wake long enough to maybe eat a bite and say a few words before falling back into an exhausted sleep.

It wasn't until the fourth day he'd had the strength to tease McGee about, well, anything.

And McGee had been thrilled when he did.

After that, they had finally gotten their old DiNozzo back. Though perhaps in slightly shorter doses.  
He was still tired and slept longer than normal, but when awake he, Gibbs, and the others had gotten a constant running commentary of all things DiNozzo. Mainly movies, pizza, girls, and teasing McGee. And the occasional attempt to barb Gibbs that would lead to allot of back-tracking and stumbling as Tony tried to remove his foot from his mouth.

But if Tony had been paying attention as McGee had, he would have noticed that every time one of those moments occurred, as soon as he could be sure DiNozzo wasn't looking, Gibbs would shake his head and smile fondly at his Senior Field Agent.

After the first week, however, Tony had gotten board of the white walls, sheets, and basic cable and started getting twitchy.

Though McGee wasn't quite sure how he could be bored. The only times he and Gibbs had left the hospital were to grab a shower and a couple hours of sleep, or when they had to put a few hours in at work (Vance has taken them off rotation for a week, giving the team some time to get back into the swing of things). And when they weren't there, and even when they were, the room was generally occupied by the rest of the team.

Abby had popped in by everything morning and every night to give everyone hugs and kisses and catch them all up on the latest cases. Ducky and Palmer dropped in during his lunch breaks, sometimes bearing food. And Ziva had made sure to come round at least once a day, generally staying for a couple of hours.

Tony and Ziva spent most of this time picking fights with another and getting into good natured arguments. All of which were abruptly brought to an end by Gibbs when they started to get out of hand.

And when he wasn't arguing with Ziva or picking on McGee, Tony was spending his time talking to the nurses and showing off his charm.

Even getting the number of one brunette woman who had found Tony's sense of humor rather amusing.

How he had the time to be bored, McGee had no clue.

A sharp trill took McGee by surprise and he jerked slightly before reaching into his pocket to pull out his cellphone.

"Hello?"

"McGee, DiNozzo all ready to go?" Gibbs' gruff voice asked.

"Been ready, Boss. If he was any more ready he'd be out in the parking lot." He replied, earning an eye roll from Tony and an amused snort from Gibbs.

"Be there in a minute." There was a click and they were disconnected.

"Bossman on his way?" Tony asked.

"Yup." McGee dropped his cellphone back in his pocket. "Said he'd be here in a minute."

"And in Gibbs-Speak that translates into," Tony lifted his arm and looked at his wristwatch. "Five, four, three two, one-"

"You two ready?" Gibbs asked, throwing the door open.

Tony threw the younger agent an 'I told you so' look, and McGee had to bite his lip to keep from laughing.

"Here." Gibbs dropped a hefty stack of papers in DiNozzo's lap. "Your release papers." He pulled a pen from his pocket and dropped it on top of the stack. "Sign it."

"With pleasure." Tony snatched up the pen, singed with a flourish and handed both back to Gibbs with a smile.

"Here you go, Boss. Signed, Sealed and Delivered. I-"

"So help me, DiNozzo if you tell me 'I'm yours' I will_ not_ show any restraint in smacking the back of your head, we clear?"

"So, what you're saying is you were showing restraint before?" Tony grinned, "Aww, Boss, I knew you cared."

McGee shook his head._ The man would never learn,_ he thought as Gibbs cuffed DiNozzo upside the head.

But then, that's what made Tony, Tony. And they wouldn't have him any other way.

"Lets get outta here." Gibbs announced, snatching up Tony's duffel, shoving the papers inside and leading the way out of the room.

"Yes!" Tony cheered, pumping a fist.

McGee snorted, amused. Gibbs just shook his head.

Gibbs led them down the hall to the exit and out into the parking lot in the direction of McGee's car.(The charger being a bit to small to accommodate the wheelchair they now needed to haul with them.)

Tony winced as they hit a bump in the pavement.

He sent McGee a look. "You know what, Probie, I'm not letting you drive anymore."

"My drivings fine, Tony." McGee replied, his tone distracted. This was not the first time he'd heard this. And he was sure it wouldn't be the last.

"Tell that to my a-"

"DiNozzo."

"Shutting up, Boss."

Had Tony turned around, he would have seen the smirk flit across McGee's face.

Same old DiNozzo.

"Probie!" The Italian agent exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air in exasperated gesture as McGee pulled to quick stop at the edge of the crosswalk; not so much annoyed really, but rather enjoying taking the opportunity to torture his favorite Probie.

Deciding he'd rather not listen to this for the rest of the trip, McGee leaned forward, ensuring only DiNozzo could hear, he whispered "You know, Tony, I could always let Gibbs drive."

There was silence for a few seconds before, "Just take it easy on the curves there, Probie."

"Right."

The last few minutes of the ride were mercifully silent as the trio made their way to the car, loaded inside and made the trip to Tony's apartment; Tony's only protests being when Gibbs stopped to pick up his medications at the pharmacy.

"You're taking them, DiNozzo." Gibbs ordered as he tossed the bag onto to DiNozzo's lap, "Not gonna let Ducky chew me out for this one."

McGee's lips twitched as Tony scowled at their boss, looking somewhat like a pubescent child, but refrained from commenting.

He glanced at Gibbs; the older man's lips twitched as he glanced in the rear-view mirror, but he didn't say anything.

The rest of the trip was short, and relatively quiet as they rode from the pharmacy to Tony's apartment, unloaded his belongings and made their way to Tony's floor - the elevator was, mercifully, in working order for a change.

"Oh, it's going to be so good to be home." Tony moaned from his chair as Gibbs slipped the key into the lock, "My own bed, my own food, my movies! I'm never leaving this building again."  
"Yeah, that'll last." McGee snorted, "I give it a week, at best."

Leaning his head back to glower up at McGee, Tony asked, "And what makes you say that, Probie?"

McGee's lips twitched. "I know you, Tony. You gotta date sometime."

"Who says I can't have the girls come to my apartment, eh, McGee?" Tony wiggled his eyebrows suggestivley. "I've been told my apartment can be very romantic."

"Yeah, I wouldn't count on that, DiNozzo." Gibbs commented.  
At Tony's confused look, Gibbs led them through the door into Tony's apartment.

McGee froze in the doorway, eyes widening in surprise even as Tony stared, blinking in shock at the sight before him.  
His apartment was decorated, no, plastered, with bright green, blue, and black streamers hanging along the walls, several bunches of black and green balloons spread out across the apartment, and at least a dozen vases of black roses, all of which were over-shadowed by the large home-made banner with the words "Welcome Home, Tony!" written in bright red.

"Someone attacked my apartment." Tony mumbled, shocked.

McGee chuckled, "I think Abby's been here."

"Ya think, McGee?" Gibbs replied with a smirk as he moved further into the room, ducking under a low-hanging streamer, to deposit Tony's bag on the kitchen counter.

"Well, it certainly is... festive." Tony smiled as he fingered a piece of ribbon from one of the balloons.  
"And its definitely Abby." McGee added with a grin, pointing to a bunch of the black flowers.

"And Ziva." Gibbs tacked on, holding the refrigerator door open wide to reveal shelves stacked full of multi-colored Tupperware bowls filled with casseroles, meatloafs, mashed potatoes, and sauces by the dozens.

Tony shook his head lightly, a fond smile playing at his lips.

Never let it be said that their team didn't band together and provide one another support.

"Something tells me Ducky and Palmer had a hand in this too." McGee remarked, nodding towards the couch as he steered Tony into the living room, pointing out the pillows and blankets piled neatly on one end of the couch and the stack of DVDs on the corner of the coffee table, TV remote balanced on top, all within easy reach.

Tony stretched forward in his seat, ignoring the way McGee's hands hovered around him, waiting to catch him if he fell, and carefully lifted the large pile of movies from the stand to take a quick look through them.

"You want to order a pizza or somethin'?" Gibbs asked as he entered, plucking the phone up from its hook.

Tony looked up from his collection of movies. "It's like you don't know me, Boss."

The tap to the back of his head was much lighter than usual, barely ruffling his hair.

Moving to Tony's desk, Gibbs shuffled through the stacks of numbers and brochures that littered the desktop before apparently finding one that appealed to him.

"You okay with Rider's?" He asked, his eyes scanning the menu form.

"Just so long as it's not Moretti's, Boss. Not sure I want to tempt fate."

"He's got a point, Boss," McGee quipped, "With Tony, I don't think you want to risk it."

"Hey!"

Gibbs rolled his eyes, privately amused by the duo, as he dialed the number for Rider's and started placing their order.

"Pull me to the couch, would you, Probie?" Tony asked.

The young agent obliged, sliding him up along the couch and with gentle hand, helping guide him out of the stiff seat and onto the plush cushions the couch provided.

Tony sighed, sinking back into his seat.

"Feel good to be home, Tony?" McGee asked as slouched down into one of the arm-chairs, getting comfortable.

"Like you would not believe, Probie." He replied with vehemence, leaning his head back to rest on the couch's arm, reveling in the comfortably.

"Pizza will be here in twenty." Gibbs announced, dropping the phone on the coffee table before claiming the chair opposite of McGee and easing back.

The next several minutes was filled with compatible silences and mindless chatter (mainly between the two youngest agents), before the buzzer sounded.

It was silent as the pizza and plates were passed around and the three agents dug into their meal; until, however, Tony reached for one of the beers sitting on the table.

"I wouldn't." Gibbs' warning caught him by surprise.

"What?" he asked, bemused.

Gibbs lifted a small white, paper bag from the coffee table, shaking it once, letting the medication bottles the doctor had prescribed rattle in response. "Pretty sure you're not supposed to mix."

"Aw, come on, Boss. One won't kill me."

Gibbs tipped his head in response, "Fine. Go ahead."

"Really?" He asked, blinking in surprise. He hadn't been expecting that.

"Sure." Gibbs nodded even as he reached for a second slice of pizza, "Not gonna matter. If Ducky finds out, he'll just kill ya anyway."

"Ha... Ha." Tony remarked dryly rolling his eyes before throwing Tim a small, mock glare as the man laughed heartily at his expense.

Tony picked at his pizza crust, pinching off a small piece, and flicked it at McGee, successfully bouncing it off the man's forehead.

The laughing stopped abruptly as the man blinked in surprise; he looked to Tony, eyebrows raised as he watched the man clutch his stomach, gasping between laughs.

He was so distracted he didn't see the smirk play across McGee's face.

He really should have payed attention.

The Senior Field Agent started in surprise as his face was suddenly misted with water; his eyes snapped open to find a grinning McGee, one hand still dripping slighty, the other holding a partially empty glass of water.

Tony stared at him in surprise.

Gibbs just smirked and shook his head.

"You want to try that game, McGee?" Tony asked evenly, nodding; the sparkle in his eyes giving him away. "Alright. Fine."

McGee rose an eyebrow in an amused challenge.

"Just remember, Probie." Tony wagged a finger at him, "You started it."

"I don't really care who started it, I'll finish it." Gibbs remarked around a mouth-full of pepperoni and cheese.

"Aw, Boss!" Tony protested and McGee's lips twitched at the childish sounding plea, "I have to get him back! You saw what he did!"

"Yeah," Gibbs rolled his eyes, "And I saw you throw pizza at him, DiNozzo."

McGee smirked at Tony in triumph.

"But he started it!" Tony protested, pointing an accusing finger, "He laughed at me!"

McGee chuckled.

"See!"

Gibbs shook his head as he hid a grin by taking another bite of pizza.

"Why don't you do something more constructive than torturing McGee, DiNozzo?" He asked, grabbing the TV remote and tossing it to Tony.

Tony flipped through the channels, pausing briefly on random ones to comment about the program before finally settling on a movie.

"Air Force One." He announced, smiling, "Love this one. Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman. _Peace is not just the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice_." He quoted, adopting a passable impersonation of Harrison Ford's voice before shooting McGee a grin.

"Never seen it, Tony." Said agent quipped as he reached for another slice of pizza.

McGee took a bite of the extra cheese and pepperoni slice before looking up to meet the incredulous stares of his partner and boss.

"What?" He asked.

"Seriously, Tim? _Seriously_?" Tony stared at him with wide eyes.

"Heck, McGee, _I've_ seen this one." Gibbs added, shaking his head in exasperation even as he took a sip of his drink.

"Did you hear that? Even _Gibbs_ has seen it! Gibbs! I mean that as a compliment, boss." He added easily as the hard stare his boss sent him. "I mean, Tim, you... you... I have no words for you."

Tim rolled his eyes, equal parts annoyed and amused. "So," he nodded at the TV screen, "Fill me in."

It was probably a mistake, he realized, to not only _suggest_, but outright ask Tony about a movie, but at least it keep Tony from commenting on his lack of cinematic knowledge.

Tony sent him one of his widest and brightest smiles before he launched into a full on commentary, filling McGee in on the finer details of the plot, actors, and behind the scenes tidbits that only Tony seemed to know.

McGee, for his part, listened intently, nodding every-so-often, or giving Tony the occasional roll of the eyes, as he tried to keep up with both Tony's chatter and the movie.

Gibbs only bothered to give half of his attention to his agent; he had already heard this once before, when he watched the movie the first time with Tony.

Instead he focused his attention on the movie - at least for a while.

Soon, his attention was turned fully to his two agents who were both at this moment simultaneously attempting to fight sleep as it tried to overtake them.

The corner of his mouth twitched in amusement as we watched them.

Tony's comments first started to come fewer and farther between even as his eyelids started to droop and his muscles became more relaxed as he eased back into the couch.

Meanwhile, Tim's head kept dropping to his chest before he would jerk awake, sit up a little straighter and focus his eyes on the screen again, only to repeat the process a few seconds later until, finally, his head dropped to his chest one last time and he fell into a peaceful doze.

Rising quietly, Gibbs carefully easing the remote from Tony's clutches, he toned the volume down to a softer level, leaving it only to provide background noise; he then grabbed the near empty pizza box, shoving it in the fridge for later, and stowed away the drinks.

After making sure Tony's medication was in plain view and reach, he picked up a couple of the blankets Ducky and Palmer had laid out and tossed one over each of his agents.

As he left the apartment, taking care to close the door quietly so he wouldn't disturb the boys, he allowed himself a small smile.

It may have been a rough start, but they'd made it. They'd be okay.

Together.

* * *

**So that's the end! :D **

**As sad as I am it's over, I'm kinda proud that I've managed to finish my second chapter-length story.**

**A huge thanks to all who've taken the time to read/review/alert/favorite my story. I really appreciate it. :)**

**Please let me know what you think of my last chapter. I hit some ruff patches, but all in all, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. But I'd really like to know what you all think.**

**Thanks again everyone! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS of the quote I used from Air Force One.**


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